



diss C -J^LSc 



Book I 



PRESENTED BY 



LIYING OR DEAD? 



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REY. J. C. E.YLE, B.A., 

RECTOR OF HELMINGHAM, SUFFOLK. 



** If the trumpet give an uncertain sound, who shall prepare 
himself to the battle?"—! Cor. xiv. 8. 



NEW YORK: 

ROBERT CARTER & BROTHERS, 
No. 285 BROADWAY. 

1851. 






cm 

Mrs.Hennen Jennings 
April 26, 1933 



(CnithtttH. 

L 

PAGE 
LIVING OR DEAD, . ... i ... 5 

II. 
CONSIDER YOUR 'WATS, 56 

III. 
ARE YOU FORGIVEN ? 106 

IV. 

ARE YOU HOLY ? 173 

V. 

ONLY ONE WAY, 21*7 

VI. 

CHRIST AND THE TTVO THIEVES, 257 

VII. 
faith's choice, 292 

VIII. 
remember lot, ...:..., 326 



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" YOU HATH HE QUICKENED WHO WERE DEAD." 

Ephesians ii. 1. 

Reader, — 

Look at the words before your eyes, 
and ponder them well. Search your own heart, 
and do not lay down this paper without solemn 
self-inquiry. I meet you this day with one 
simple question, — Are you among the living, or 
among the dead ? 

Listen to me w T hile I try to help you to an 
answer. Give me your attention, while I unfold 
this matter, and show you what Grod has said 
about it in the Scriptures. If I say hard things, 
it is not because I do not love you. I write 
as I do, because I desire your salvation. He 
is your best friend, who tells you the most truth. 

I. First then, let me tell you what we all are 
by nature, — we are DEAD ! 



LIVING OE DEAD. 



" Dead" is a strong word, but it is not my 
own coining and invention. I did not choose 
it. The Holy Ghost told Paul to write it down 
about the Ephesians, — " You hath he quickened 
who were dead." (Eph. ii. 1.) The Lord Jesus 
Christ made use of it in the parable of the 
prodigal son, — " This my son was dead, and is 
alive again." (Luke xv. 24, 32.) You will read 
it also in the Epistle to the Corinthians, — " One 
died for all, then were all dead." (2 Cor. v. 14.) 
Shall a mortal man be wise above that which 
is written ? Must I not take heed to speak 
that which I find in the Bible, and neither less 
nor more ? 

" Dead" is an awful idea, and one that man 
is most unwilling to receive. He does not like 
to allow the whole extent of his soul's disease. 
He shuts his eyes to the real amount of his 
danger. Many a one will allow me to say that 
naturally most people " are not quite what they 
ought to be, — they are thoughtless, — they are 
unsteady, — they are gay, — they are wild, — they 
are not serious enough." But dead ? Oh ! no 1 
I must not mention it. It is going too far to 



LIVING OR. DEAD. 



say that. The idea is a stone of stumbling, 
and a rock of offence.* 

My dear Reader, what we like in religion is 
of very little consequence. The only question 
is — What is written ? What saith the Lord ? 
God's thoughts are not man's thoughts, and 
God's words are not man's words. God says 
of every living person, who is not a decided 
Christian, — be he high or low, rich or poor, old 
or young, — he is dead. 

In this, as in everything else, God's words 
are right. Nothing could be said more correct, 
nothing more accurate, nothing more faithful, 
nothing more true. Stay a little, and let me 
reason this out with you. Come and see. 

What should you have said, if you had seen 
Joseph weeping over his father Jacob ? — " He 
fell upon his face, and wept upon him, and 
kissed him." (Gen. 1. 1.) But there was no re- 
ply to his affection. All about that aged coun- 



* " That is the reason we are no better, because our dis- 
ease is not perfectly known : that is the reason we are no 
better, because we know not how bad we are." — Archbishop 
Usher 's Sermons, preached at Oxford. 1650. 



LIVING OE DEAD. 



tenance was unmoved, silent, and still. Doubt- 
less you would have guessed the reason. — -Jacob 
was dead. 

What would you have said, if you had heard 
the Levite speaking to his wife, when he found 
her lying before the door in Gibeah ? " Up," 
he said, " and let us be going. But none an- 
swered." (Judg. xix. 28.) His words were 
thrown away. There she lay, motionless, stiff, 
and cold. You know the cause. — She was 
dead. 

What would you have thought, if you had 
seen the Amalekite stripping Saul of his royal 
ornaments in Mount Gilboa ? He " took from 
him the crown that was upon his head, and the 
bracelet that was on his arm." (2 Sam. i. 10.) 
There was no resistance. Not a muscle moved 
in that proud face. Not a finger was raised to 
prevent him. And why ? — Saul was dead. 

What should you have thought, if you had 
met the widow's son in the gate of Nain, lying 
on a bier, wrapped about with grave-clothes, 
followed by his weeping mother, carried slowly 
towards the tomb ? (Luke vii. 12.) Doubtless 



LIVING OE DEAD. 



it would have been all clear to you. It would 
have needed no explanation. — The young man 
was dead. 

Now, I say this is just the condition of every 
man by nature in the matter of his soul. I say 
this is just the state of the vast majority of 
people around us in spiritual things. God calls 
to them continually, — by mercies, by afflictions, 
by ministers, by His word ; — but they do not 
hear His voice. The Lord Jesus Christ mourns 
over them, pleads with them, sends them gra- 
cious invitations, knocks at the door of their 
hearts ; — but they do not regard it. The crown 
and glory of their being, that precious jewel, 
their immortal soul, is being seized, plundered, 
and taken away ; — and they are utterly uncon- 
cerned. The devil is carrying them away, day 
after day, along the broad road that leads to 
destruction ; — and they allow him to make them 
his captives without a struggle. And this is 
going on everywhere, — all around you, — among 
all classes, — through the length and breadth of 
the land. You know it in your own conscience, 
while you read this paper. You must be aware 



10 LIVING OK DEAD. 

of it. You cannot deny it. And what then, 
I ask you, can be said more perfectly true than 
that which God says, We are all by nature 
spiritually dead ? 

Yes ! when a man's heart is cold and uncon- 
cerned about religion, — when his hands are 
never employed in doing God's work, — when 
his feet are not familiar with God's ways, — 
when his tongue is seldom or never used in 
prayer and praise, — when his ears are deaf to 
the voice of Christ in the Gospel, — when his 
eyes are blind to the beauty of the kingdom of 
heaven, — when his mind is full of the world, 
and has no room for spiritual things, — when 
these marks are to be found in a man, the word 
of the Bible is the right word to use about him, 
and that word is " dead." 

We may not like this perhaps. We may 
shut our eyes both to facts in the world, and 
texts in the Word. But God's truth must be 
spoken, and to keep it back does positive harm. 
Truth must be spoken, however condemning it 
may be. So long as man does not serve God 
with body, soul, and spirit, he is not really alive. 



LIVING OE DEAD. 11 

So long as he puts the first things last and the 
last first, buries his talent like an unprofitable 
servant, and brings the Lord no revenue of 
honor, so long in God's sight he is dead. He 
is not filling the place in creation for which he 
was intended. He is not using his powers and 
faculties as God meant them to be used. The 
poet's words are strictly true, 

" He only lives "who lives to God, 
And all are dead beside." 

This is the true explanation of sin not felt, — 
and sermons not believed, — and good advice 
not followed, — and the Gospel not embraced, — 
and the world not forsaken, — and the cross not 
taken up, — and self-will not mortified, — and evil 
habits not laid aside, — and the Bible seldom 
read — and the knee never bent in prayer. Why 
is all this on every side ? The answer is simple. 
Men are dead. 

This is the true account of that host of ex- 
cuses for neglect of religion, which so many 
make with one consent. Some have no learn- 
ing, and some have no time. Some are op- 
pressed with business, and some with poverty. 



12 



LIVING OR DEAD. 



Some have difficulties in their own families, 
and some in their own health. Some have pe- 
culiar obstacles in their calling, which others, 
we are told, cannot understand; and others have 
peculiar drawbacks at home, and they wait to 
have them removed. But Grod has a shorter- 
word in the Bible, which describes all these 
people at once. He says, they are dead. 

This is the true explanation of many things 
which wring a faithful minister's heart. Many 
around him never attend a place of worship at 
all. Many attend so irregularly, that it is clear 
they think it of no importance. Many attend 
once on a Sunday, who might just as easily 
attend twice. Many never come to the Lord's 
table, — never appear at a week-day means of 
grace of any kind. And why is all this ? Often, 
far too often, there can only be one reply about 
these people. They are dead. 

See now, dear Reader, how all professing 
Christians should examine themselves and try 
their own state. It is not in church-yards alone 
where the dead are to be found. There are 
only too many inside our churches, and close 



LIVING OR DEAD. 18 

to our pulpits, — too many on the benches, and 
too many in the pews. The land is like the 
valley in EzekieFs vision, full of bones, and 
those very dry. There are dead souls in all 
our parishes, and dead souls in all our streets. 
There is hardly a family in which all live to 
God. There is hardly a house in which there 
is not some one dead. Oh ! search and look at 
home. Prove your own self. 

See too how sad is the condition of all who 
have gone through no spiritual change, whose 
hearts are still the same as in the day they were 
born. There is a mountain of division between 
them and heaven. They have yet to pass from 
death to life. Oh ! that they did but see and 
know their danger ! Alas ! it is one fearful 
mark of spiritual death, that, like natural death, 
it is not felt. We lay our beloved ones ten- 
derly and gently in their narrow beds, but they 
feel nothing of what we do. " The dead," says 
the wise man, " know not anything." (Eccl. ix. 
5.) And this is just the case with dead souls. 

See too what reason ministers have to be 
anxious about their congregations. We feel 



14 



LIVING OR DEAD. 



that time is short, and life is uncertain. We 
know that death spiritual is the high-road that 
leads to death eternal. We fear lest any of 
those we preach to should die in their sins, un- 
prepared, unrenewed, impenitent, unchanged. 
Oh ! marvel not if we often speak strongly, and 
plead with you warmly. We dare not give you 
flattering titles, amuse you with trifles, say 
smooth things, and cry peace, peace, when 
life and death are at stake, and nothing less. 
The plague is among you. We feel that we 
stand between the living and the dead. We 
must and will use great plainness of speech. 
" If the trumpet give an uncertain sound, who 
shall prepare himself for the battle?" (1 Cor. 
xiv. 8.) 

II. Let me tell you, in the second place, 
what every man needs who would be saved, — he 
must be quickened and made alive. 

Life is the mightiest of all possessions. From 
death to life is the mightiest of all changes. 
And no change short of this will ever avail to 
fit man's soul for heaven. 

Yes ! it is not a little mending and alteration, 



LIVING OR DEAD. 15 

— a little cleansing and purifying, — a little 
painting and patching, — a little turning over a 
new leaf, and putting on a new outside, that is 
wanted. It is the bringing in of something 
altogether new, — the planting within us a new 
nature, — a new being, — a new principle, — a 
new heart, — this alone, and nothing less than 
this, will ever meet the necessities of man's 
soul.* 

To hew a block of marble from the quarry, 
and carve it into a noble statue, — to break up a 
waste wilderness, and turn it into a garden of 
flowers, — to melt a lump of iron-stone, and forge 
it into watch-springs ; — all these are mighty 
changes. Yet they all come short of the change 
which every child of Adam requires, for they 
are merely the same thing in a new form, the 
same substance in a new shape. But man re- 
quires the grafting in of that which he had not 
before. He needs a change as great as a res- 

* " It is not a little reforming will save the man, no, nor all 
the morality of the world, nor all the common graces of God's 
Spirit, nor the outward change of the life : they will not do, 
unless we are quickened and have a new life wrought in us." 
— Usher's Sermons. 



16 



LIVING OE DEAD. 



urrection from the dead. He must become a 
new creature. Old things must pass away, and 
all things must become new. He must be 
born again, born from above, born of God. 
The natural birth is not a whit more necessary 
to the life of the body, than is the spiritual 
birth to the life of the soul. 

I know well this is a hard saying. I know 
well the children of this world dislike to hear 
they must be born again. It pricks their con- 
sciences. It makes them feel they are further 
off from heaven than they are willing to allow. 
It seems like a narrow door which they have not 
yet stooped to enter, and they would fain make 
the door wider, or climb in some other way. 
But I dare not give place by subjection in this 
matter. I will not foster a delusion, and tell 
people they only need repent a little, and stir 
up a gift they have within them, in order to be- 
come real Christians. I dare not use any other 
language than that of the Bible. And I say in 
the words which are written for our learning, — 
we all need to be born again, we are all natu- 
rally dead, and must be made alive. 



LIVING OE DEAD. 17 

Reader, if you had seen Manasseh, king of 
Judah, at one time filling Jerusalem with idols, 
and murdering his children in honor of false 
gods, at another purifying the temple, putting 
down idolatry, and living a godly life ; — if you 
had seen Zacchaeus, the publican of Jericho, at 
one time cheating, plundering, and covetous, at 
another following Christ, and giving half his 
goods to the poor ; — if you had seen the ser- 
vants of Nero's household, at one time conform- 
ing to their master's profligate ways, at another 
of one heart and mind with the apostle Paul; 
— if you had seen the ancient father, Augustine, 
at one time living in open neglect of the seventh 
commandment, at another walking closely with 
God ; — if you had seen our own Reformer, Lati- 
mer, at one time preaching earnestly against 
the truth as it is in Jesus, at another spending 
and being spent even to death in its cause ; — 
if you had seen the New Zealanders, or Tinne- 
velly Hindoos, at one time blood-thirsty, im- 
moral, and sunk in abominable superstitions, at 
another holy, pure, and believing Christians ; — 
if you had seen these wonderful changes, or 
2 



18 



LIVING OR DEAD. 



any of them, I ask you what you would have 
said ? Would you thave been content to call 
them nothing more than amendments and altera- 
tions ? Would you have been satisfied with 
saying that Augustine had reformed his ways, 
and Latimer turned over a new leaf? Verily, 
if you had said no more than this, the very 
stones would have cried out. I tell you in all 
these cases there was nothing less than a new 
birth, a resurrection of human nature, a quicken- 
ing of the dead. These are the right words to 
use. All other language is weak, poor, beg- 
garly, unscriptural, and short of the truth. 

Now I will not shrink from saying plainly, 
we all need the same kind of change, if we are 
to be saved. The difference between us and 
any of those I have just named, is far less 
than it appears. Take off the outward crust, 
and you will find the same nature beneath in 
us and them, an evil nature requiring a com- 
plete change. The face of the earth is very 
different in different climates, but the heart of 
the earth, I am told, is everywhere the same. 
Gro where you will, from one end to the other, 



LIVING OR DEAD. 19 

you would always find the granite rock beneath 
your feet, if you only bored down deep enough. 
And it is just the same with men's hearts. 
Their customs and their colors, their ways and 
their laws, may all be utterly unlike, but the 
inner man is always the same ; — their hearts 
are all alike at the bottom, all stony, all hard, 
all ungodly, all needing to be thoroughly re- 
newed. The Englishman and the New Zea- 
lander, stand on the same level in this matter. 
Both are naturally dead, and both need to be 
made alive. Both are children of the same 
father Adam, who fell by sin, and both need 
to be born again, and made children of God. 

Reader, whatever part of the globe we live 
in, our eyes need to be opened : naturally we 
never see our sinfulness, guilt, and danger. 
Whatever nation we belong to, our understand- 
ings need to be enlightened :* naturally we 

* " Man's understanding is so darkened that he can see 
nothing of God in God, nothing of holiness in holiness, nothing 
of good in good, nothing of evil in evil, nor anything of sin- 
fulness in sin. Nay, it is so darkened that he fancies himself 
to see good in evil, and evil in good, happiness in sin, and 
misery in holiness." — Bishop Beveridge on the Articles. 



20 LIVING OR DEAD. 

know little or nothing of the plan of salvation ; 
— like the Babel-builders, we think to get to 
heaven our own way. Whatever church we 
may belong to, our wills need to be bent in the 
right direction ; — naturally we should never 
choose the things which are for our peace, — we 
should never come to Christ. Whatever be 
our rank in life, our affections need to be turned 
to things above ;— naturally we only set them 
on things below, earthly, sensual, short-lived, 
and vain. Pride must give place to humility, 
— self-righteousness to self-abasement, — care- 
lessness to seriousness — worldliness to holiness, 
— unbelief to faith. Satan's dominion must be 
put down within us, and the kingdom of God 
set up. Self must be crucified, and Christ must 
reign. Till these things come to pass, we are 
dead as stones. When these things begin to 
take place, and not till then, we are alive. 

Reader, I dare to say this sounds like foolish- 
ness to some. I tell you that many a living 
man could stand up this day and testify that it is 
true. Many a one could tell you that he knows 
it all by experience, and that he does indeed 



LIVING OK DEAD. 21 

feel himself a new man. He loves the things that 
once he hated, and hates the things that once 
he loved. He has new habits, new companions, 
new ways, new tastes, new feelings, new 
opinions, new sorrows, new joys, new anxieties, 
new pleasures, new hopes, and new fears.* In 
short, the whole bias and current of his being 
is changed. Ask his nearest relations and 
friends, and they would bear witness to it. 
Whether they liked it or not, they would be 
obliged to confess he was no longer the same. 

Many a one could tell you that once he did 
not think himself such a very great transgressor. 
At any rate he fancied he was no worse than 
others. Now he would say, with the apostle 
Paul, he feels himself the chief of sinners. f 

- " How wonderfully doth the new-born soul differ from 
his former self. He liveth a new life, he walketh in a new 
way, he steereth his course by a new compass and towards a 
new coast. His principle 13 new, his pattern is new, his prac- 
tices are new, his projects are new, all is new. He ravels 
out all he had wove before, and employeth himself wholly 
about another work." — George SwinnocJce. 1660. 

f " I cannot pray, but I sin : I cannot hear or preach a 
sermon, but I sin : I cannot give an alms, or receive the sacra- 
ment, but I sin : nay, I cannot so much as confess my sins, 



22 LIVING OR DEAD. 

Once he did not consider he had a bad heart. 
He might have his faults, and be led away by- 
bad company and temptations, but he had a 
good heart at the bottom. Now he would tell 
you he knows no heart so bad as his own. He 
finds it deceitful above all things, and des- 
perately wicked. 

Once he did not suppose it was a very hard 
matter to get to heaven. He thought he had 
only to repent, and say a few prayers, and do 
what he could, and Christ would make up what 
was wanting. Now he believes the way is 
narrow, and few find it. He is convinced he 
could never have made his own peace with 

but my confessions are still aggravations of them. My re- 
pentance needs to be repented of, my tears want washing, 
and the very washing of my tears needs still to be washed over 
again with the blood of my Redeemer." — Bishop Beveridge. 

" Woe is me, that man should think there is anything in 
me! He is my witness, before whom I am as crystal, that 
the secret house-devils, that bear me too often company, that 
the corruption which I find within, make me go with low 
sails." — Rutherford's Letters. 16 37. 

'•' I am sick of all I do, and stand astonished that the Re- 
deemer still continues to make use of and bless me. Surely 
1 am more foolish than any man ; no one receives so much 
and does so little." — Whitejield's Betters. 



LIVING OK DEAD. 23 

Grod. He is persuaded that nothing but the 
blood of Christ could wash away his sins. His 
only hope is to be justified by faith without the 
deeds of the law. 

Once he could see no beauty and excellence 
in the Lord Jesus Christ. He could not under- 
stand some ministers speaking so much about 
Him. Now he would tell you he is the pearl 
above all price, the chiefest among ten thousand, 
— his Redeemer, his Advocate, his Priest, his 
King, his Physician, his Shepherd, his all. 

Once he thought lightly about sin. He could 
not see the necessity of being so particular 
about it. He could not think a man's words 
and thoughts and actions were of such impor- 
tance, and required such watchfulness. Now 
he would tell you sin is the abominable thing 
which he hates, the sorrow and burden of his 
life. He longs to be more holy. He can enter 
thoroughly into Whitefield's desire, " I want to 
go where I shall neither sin myself, nor see 
others sin any more." 

Once he found no pleasure in means of grace. 
The Bible was neglected. His prayers, if he 



24 LIVING OR DEAD. 

had any, were a mere form. Sermons were a 
weariness, and often sent him to sleep. Now 
all is altered. These things are the food, the 
comfort, the delight of his soul. 

Once he disliked earnest-minded Christians. 
He shunned them as melancholy, low-spirited, 
weak people. Now they are the excellent of 
the earth, of whom he cannot see too much. 
He is never so happy as he is in their company. 
He feels if all men and women were saints it 
would be heaven upon earth. 

Once he cared only for this world, its pleas- 
ures, its business, its occupations, its rewards. 
Now he looks upon it as an empty, unsatisfying 
place, — an inn, — a lodging, — a training-school 
for the life to come. His treasure is in heaven. 
His home is beyond the grave. 

Reader, I ask you once more, what is all this 
but a new life ? Such a change as I have de- 
scribed is no vision and fancy. It is a real 
actual thing, which not a few in this world 
have known or felt. It is not a picture of my 
own imagining. It is a true thing, which many 
a one could find at this moment hard by his 



LIVING OR DEAD. 25 

own doors. But wherever such a change does 
take place, there you see the thing of which I 
am now speaking, — you see the man made 
alive, a new man, a new creature, a soul born 
again. 

I would to God that changes such as these 
were more common ! I would to God there 
were not such multitudes, of whom we must 
say even weeping, they know nothing about 
the matter at all. But common or not, one 
thing I say plainly, this is the kind of change 
we all need. I do not hold that all must have 
exactly the same experience. I allow most 
fully that the change is different, in degree, ex- 
tent, and intensity, in different persons. Grace 
may be weak, and yet true ; — life may be feeble, 
and yet real. But I do confidently affirm, we 
must all go through something of this kind, if 
ever we mean to be saved. Till this sort of 
change has taken place, there is no life in us at 
all. We may be living Churchmen, but we are 
dead Christians.* 

* " If we be still our old selves, no changelings at all, the 
same men that we came into the world, without defalcation 



26 LIVING OR DEAD. 

Take it home, every man or woman that 
reads this paper, take it home to your own 
conscience, and look at it well. Some time or 
other, between the cradle and the grave, all 
who would be saved must be made alive. The 
words which good old Berridge had graven on 
his tomb-stone are faithful and true, " Reader, 
art thou born again ? Remember ! no salva- 
tion without a new birth.'* 

See now, my dear Reader, what an amazing 
gulf there is between the Christian in name 
and form, and the Christian in deed and truth. 
It is not the difference of one being a little 
better, and the other a little worse than his 
neighbor ; — it is the difference between a state 
of life and a state of death. The meanest blade 
of grass that grows upon a Highland mountain is 
a more noble object than the fairest wax-flower 
that was ever formed ; for it has that which no 

of our corruptions, "without addition of grace and sanctification, 
surely we must seek us another Father, we are not yet the 
sons of God." — Bishop Hall. 1652. 

" If thou hast anything less than regeneration, believe me, 
thou canst never see heaven. There is no hope of heaven till 
then, — till thou art born again." — Archbishop Usher's Sermons. 



LIVING OR DEAD. 27 

science of man can impart, — it has life. The 
most splendid marble statue in Greece or Italy- 
is nothing by the side of the poor sickly child 
that crawls over the cottage floor; for with 
all its beauty it is dead. And the weakest mem- 
ber of the family of Christ is far higher and 
more precious in God's eyes, than the most 
gifted man of the world. The one lives unto 
God, and shall live forever ; — the other, with 
all his intellect, is still dead in sins. 

Oh! you that have passed from death to 
life, you have reason indeed to be thankful. 
Remember what you once were by nature, — 
dead. Think what you are now by grace, — 
alive. Look at the dry bones thrown up from 
the graves. Such were ye; — and who has 
made you to differ ? Go and fall low before 
the footstool of your God. Bless Him for His 
grace, His free distinguishing grace. Say to 
Him often, " Who am I, Lord, that thou hast 
brought me hitherto ? Why me, why hast thou 
been merciful unto me ?" 

III. Let me tell you in the third place, in 
what way alone this quickening can be brought 



28 LIVING OR DEAD. 



about,— by what means a dead soul can be made 
alive. 

Surely, if I did not tell you this, it would be 
cruelty to write what I have written. Surely, 
it would be leading you into a dreary wilder- 
ness, and then leaving you without bread and 
water; — it would belike marching you down 
to the Red Sea, and then bidding you walk 
over ; — it would be commanding you to make 
brick, like Pharaoh, and yet refusing to pro- 
vide you with straw ; — it would be like tying 
your hands and feet, and then desiring you to 
war a good warfare, and so run as to obtain 
the prize. I will not do so. I will not leave 
you. till I have pointed out the wicket-gate 
towards which you must run. By God's help, 
I will set before you the full provision there is 
made for dead souls. Listen to me a little 
longer, and I will once more show you what is 
written in the Scripture of truth. 

One thing is very clear; — we cannot work 
this mighty change ourselves. It is not in us. 
We have no strength or power to do it. We 
may change our sins, but we cannot change 



LIVING OR DEAD. 29 

our hearts. We may take up a new way, but 
not a new nature. We may make consider- 
able reforms and alterations. We may lay 
aside many outward bad habits, and begin 
many outward duties. But we cannot create 
a new principle within us. We cannot bring 
something out of nothing. The Ethiopian 
cannot change his skin, nor the leopard his 
spots ; no more can we put life into- our own 
souls.* (Jer. xiii. 23.) 

Another thing is equally clear, no man can 
do it for us. Ministers may preach to you, 
and pray with you, — receive you at the font in 
baptism, admit you at the Lord's table, and 
give you the bread and wine ; — but they can- 

* " There is not one good duty which the natural man can 
do. If it should be said to him; Think but one good thought, 
and for it thou shalt go to heaven, he could not think it. 
Till God raise him from the sink of sin, as he did Lazarus 
from the grave, he cannot do anything that is well-pleasing 
to God. He may do the works of a moral man. but to do 
the works of a man quickened and enlightened, it is beyond 
his power." — Usher's Sermons. 

" Nature can no more cast out nature, than Satan can cast 
out Satan." — Thomas Watson. 1653. 

" Nature cannot raise itself to this, any more than a man 
can give natural being to himself." — Archbishop Leighton. 



30 LIVING OR DEAD. 



not bestow spiritual life. They may bring in 
regularity in the place of disorder, and out- 
ward decency in the place of open sin. But 
they cannot go below the surface. They can- 
not reach your hearts. Paul may plant and 
Apollos water, but God alone can give the in- 
crease. (1 Cor. iii. 6.) 

Who then can make a dead soul alive ? No 
one can do it but God. He only who breathed 
into Adam's nostrils the breath of life, can 
ever make a dead sinner a living Christian. 
He only who formed the world out of nothing 
in the day of creation, can make man a new 
creature. He only who said, " Let there be 
light, and there was light," can cause spiritual 
light to shine into man's heart. He only who 
formed man out of the dust and gave life to his 
body, can ever give life to his soul. His is the 
special office to do it by His Spirit, and His 
also is the power.* 

Reader, the glorious Gospel contains provi- 

* " To create or bring something out of nothing, is beyond 
the power of the strongest creature. It is above the strength 
of all men and angels to create the least blade of grass ; 
God challengeth this as His prerogative royal. (Isaiah xl. 26.) 



LIVING OR DEAD. 31 

sion for your spiritual, as well as your eternal 
life. The dead must come to Christ, and He 
will give them life as well as peace. He is 
able to do everything which sinners need. He 
cleanses them by His blood, — He makes them 
alive by His Spirit. The Lord Jesus is a 
complete Saviour. That mighty living Head 
has no dead members. His people are not 
only justified and pardoned, but quickened to- 
gether with Him, and made partakers of His 
resurrection. To Him the Spirit joins the 
sinner, and raises him by that union from 
death to life. In Him the sinner lives, after 
he has believed. The spring of all his vitality 
is the union between Christ and his soul, 
which the Spirit begins and keeps up. Christ 
is the appointed fountain of all spiritual life, 
and the Holy Ghost the appointed agent who 
conveys that life to our souls.* 

Augustine said truly, To convert the little world man, is more 
than to create the great world." — George SwimiocJce. 1660. 

* " Then do we begin to live, when we begin to have 
union with Christ, the Fountain of Life, by His Spirit com- 
municated to us : from this time we are to reckon our life." 
— Flavel. 

" Christ is an universal principle of all life." — Sibbs. 1635. 



32 LIVING OR DEAD. 

Come to the Lord Jesus Christ, if you would 
have life. He will not cast you out. He has 
gifts, even for the rebellious. The moment 
the dead man touched the body of Elisha, he 
revived and stood upon his feet. (2 Kings xiii. 
21.) The moment you touch the Lord Jesus 
with the hand of faith, you are alive unto God, 
as well as forgiven all trespasses. Come, and 
your soul shall live. 

I never despair of any one becoming a de- 
cided Christian, whatever he may have been 
in days gone by. I know how great the 
change is from death to life. I know the 
mountains of division that seem to stand be- 
tween some of you and heaven. I know the 
hardness, the prejudices, the desperate sinful- 
ness of the natural heart. But I remember 
that God the Father made the glorious world 
out of nothing. I remember the voice of the 
Lord Jesus could reach Lazarus when four 
days dead, and recall him even from the grave. 
I remember the amazing victories the Spirit 
of God has won in every nation under heaven. 
I remember all this, and feel that I never need 



LIVING OR DEAD. 33 

despair. Yes! the very man who now seems 
most utterly dead in sins, may yet be raised to 
a new being, and walk before God in newness 
of life. 

Why should it not be so ? The Holy Spirit 
is a merciful and loving Spirit. He turns 
away from no man because of his vileness. 
He passes by no one, because his sins are 
black and scarlet. 

There was nothing in the Corinthians that 
He should come down and quicken them. 
Paul reports of them that they were " fornica- 
tors, idolaters, adulterers, effeminate, thieves, 
covetous, drunkards, revilers, extortioners." 
" Such," he says, " were some of you." Yet 
even them the Spirit made alive. " Ye are 
washed," he writes, " ye are sanctified, ye are 
justified, in the name of the Lord Jesus and 
by the Spirit of our God." (1 Cor. vi. 9, 
10,11.) 

There was nothing in the Colossians, that 
He should visit their hearts. Paul tells us that 
" they walked in fornication, uncleanness, in- 
ordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and 
3 



34 LIVING OR DEAD. 

covetousness, which is idolatry." Yet them 
also the Spirit quickened. He made them "put 
off the old man with his deeds, and put on the 
new man which is renewed in knowledge after 
the image of him that created him." (Coloss. 
iii. 5-9, 10.) 

There was nothing in Mary Magdalene that 
the Spirit should make her soul alive. Once 
she had been possessed with seven devils. 
Time was, if report be true, she had been a 
woman proverbial for vileness and iniquity. 
Yet even her the Spirit made a new creature, 
separated her from her sins, brought her to 
Christ, made her last at the cross, and first at 
the tomb. 

Never, never will the Spirit turn away from 
a soul because of its corruption. He never 
has done so ; — He never will. It is His glory 
that He has purified the minds of the most im- 
pure, and made them temples for His own 
abode. He may yet take the worst man who 
reads this paper, and make him a vessel of 
grace. 

Why indeed should it not be so? The Spirit 



LIVING OE DEAD. 35 

is an Almighty Spirit. He can change the 
stony heart into a heart of flesh. He can break 
the strongest bad habits like tow before the fire. 
He can make the most difficult things seem 
easy, and the mightiest objections melt away 
like snow in spring. He can cut the bars of 
brass, and throw the gates of prejudice wide 
open. He can fill up every valley, and make 
every rough place smooth. He has done it 
often, and He can do it again.* 

The Spirit can take a Jew, — the bitterest 
enemy of Christianity, — the fiercest persecutor 
of true believers, — the strongest stickler for 
Pharisaical notions, — the most prejudiced op- 
poser of Gospel doctrine, — and turn that man 
into an earnest preacher of the very faith he 
once destroyed. He has done it already. — He 
did it with the Apostle Paul. 

The Spirit can take a Roman Catholic Monk, 
brought up in the midst of Romish superstition, 

* " Such is the power of the Holy Ghost to regenerate 
men, and as it were to bring them forth anew, so that they 
shall be nothing like the men they were before." — Homily 
for Whitsunday. 



36 LIVING OR DEAD. 

— trained from his infancy to believe false doc- 
trine, and obey the Pope, — steeped to the eyes 
in error, — and make that man the clearest up- 
holder of justification by faith the world ever 
saw. He has done it already. — He did it with 
Martin Luther. 

The Spirit can take an English tinker, with- 
out learning, patronage, or money, — a man at 
one time notorious for nothing so much as blas- 
phemy and swearing — and make that man write 
a religious book, which shall stand unrivalled 
and unequalled in its way by any since the time 
of the Apostles. He has done so already. — He 
did it with John Bunyan, the author of "Pil- 
grim's Progress." 

The Spirit can take a sailor, drenched in 
worldliness and sin, — a profligate captain of a 
slave-ship, — and make that man a most success- 
ful minister of the Gospel, — a writer of letters, 
which are a store-house of experimental reli- 
gion, — and of hymns which are known and 
sung wherever English is spoken. He has 
done it already.— He did it with John New- 
ton. 



LIVING OK DEAD. 37 

All this the Spirit has done, and much more, 
of which I cannot speak particularly. And the 
arm of the Spirit is not shortened. His power 
is not decayed. Such as the Lord Jesus Christ 
is, such also is the Spirit, the same yesterday, 
to-day, and forever. He is still doing won- 
ders, and will do to the very end. 

Once more then, I say, I never despair of 
any man's soul being made alive. I should if 
it depended on man himself. Some seem so 
hardened, I should have no hope. I should if 
it depended on the work of ministers. Alas ! 
the very best of us are poor, weak creatures. 
But I cannot despair, when I remember that 
God the Spirit is the agent who conveys life 
to the soul, for I know and am persuaded that 
with him nothing is impossible. 

I should not be surprised to hear, even in 
this life, that the hardest man I ever met, had 
become softened, and the proudest had taken 
his place at the feet of Jesus as a weaned child. 

I shall not be surprised to meet many on the 
right hand in the day of judgment, whom I 
shall leave, when I die, travelling in the broad 



38 LIVING OR DEAD. 

way. I shall not start, arid say, " What ! you 
here!" I shall only remind them, "Was not 
this my word, when I was yet among you, — 
nothing is impossible with Him that quickeneth 
the dead." 

Does any one who reads this paper desire to 
help the Church of Christ ? Then pray for a 
great outpouring of the Spirit. He alone can 
give edge to sermons, and point to advice, and 
power to rebukes, and cast down the high walls 
of sinful hearts. It is not better preaching 
and finer writing that is wanted in this day, 
but more of the presence of the Holy Ghost. 

Does any one who reads this paper feel the 
slightest drawing towards God, — the smallest 
concern about his immortal soul ? Then flee 
to that open fountain of living waters, the Lord 
Jesus Christ, and you shall receive the Holy 
Ghost. (John vii. 39.) Begin at once to pray 
for the Holy Spirit. Think not you are shut 
up, and cut oft' from hope. The Holy Ghost 
is promised to them that ask Him. His very 
name is the Spirit of promise and the Spirit of 
life. Give Him no rest till he comes down and 



LIVING OR DEAD. 39 

makes you a new heart. Cry mightily unto the 
Lord, — say unto Him "Bless me, even me also, 
— quicken me, and make me alive." 

And now let me wind up all I have said, with 
a few words of special application. I have 
told you what I believe to be the truth as it is 
in Jesus. Let me try, by God's blessing, to 
bring it home to your heart. 

1. First, let me put this question to every 
soul who reads this paper, — " Are you living, or 
are you dead ?" 

Suffer me, as an ambassador for Christ, to 
press the inquiry on every conscience. There 
are only two ways to walk in, the narrow and 
the broad; — two companies in the day of judg- 
ment, those on the right hand and those on the 
left ; two classes of people in the professing 
Church of Christ, and to one of them you 
must belong. Where are you? What are 
you ? Are you among the living, or among 
the dead? 

I speak to you yourselves who read this 
paper, and to none else, — not to your neigh- 
bor, but to you, — not to Africans 01 New 



40 LIVING OR DEAD. 

Zealanders, but to you. I do not ask whether 
you are angels, or whether you have the mind 
of David or Paul, — but I do ask whether you 
have a well-founded hope that you are new 
creatures in Christ Jesus, — I do ask whether 
you have reason to believe you have put off the 
old man and put on the new, — whether you are 
conscious of ever having gone through a real 
spiritual change of heart, — whether, in one 
word, you are dead or alive ?*" 

Think not to put me off by saying, " You 
were admitted into the church by baptism, — 
you received grace and the Spirit in that sacra- 

* " All hangs upon this hinge. If this be not done, ye are 
undone — undone eternally. All your profession, civility, 
privileges, gifts, duties, are cyphers, and signify nothing, un- 
less regeneration be the figure put before them." — Swi?mocke. 
1660. 

" Believe me, whatsoever thou art, thou shalt never be saved 
for being a lord, or a knight, a gentleman or a rich man, a 
learned man or a well-spoken eloquent man ; nor yet for 
being a Calvinist, or a Lutheran, an Arminian, an Anabaptist, a 
Presbyterian, an Independent, or a Protestant, formally and 
merely as such ; — much less for being a Papist, or of any 
such grossly deluded sect : but as a regenerate Christian it 
is that thou must be saved, or thou canst have no hope." — 
Richard Baxter. 1659. 



CH 



LIVING OR DEAD. 41 

merit, — you are alive." It shall not avail you. 
Paul himself says of the baptized widow who 
lives in pleasure, " She is dead while she liveth." 
(1 Tim. v. 6.) The Lord Jesus Christ himself 
tells the chief officer of the church in Sardis, 
" Thou hast a name that thou livest and art 
dead." (Rev. hi. 1.) The life you talk of is 
nothing if it cannot be seen. Show it to me, 
if I am to believe its existence. Grace is light, 
and light will always be discerned. Grace is 
salt, and salt will always be tasted. An in- 
dwelling of the Spirit that does not show itself 
by outward fruits, — and a grace that men's eyes 
cannot discover, are both to be viewed with 
the utmost suspicion. Believe me, if you have 
no other proof of spiritual life but your baptism, 
you are yet a dead soul. 

Think not to tell me, " It is a question that 
cannot be decided, and you call it presumptuous 
to give an opinion in such a matter." This is 
a vain refuge, and a false humility. Spiritual 
life is no such dim and doubtful thing as you 
seem to fancy. There are marks and evidences 
by which its presence may be discerned by 



42 LIVING OR DEAD. 

those who know the Bible. " We know, says 
John, " that we have passed from death unto 
life." (1 John iii. 14.) The exact time and 
season of that passage may often be hidden from 
a man. The fact and reality of it will seldom 
be entirely an uncertain thing. It was a true 
and beautiful saying of a Scotch girl to White- 
field, when asked if her heart was changed, 
" Something was changed, she knew ; it might 
be the world, it might be her own heart ; but 
there was a great change somewhere, she was 
quite sure, for everything seemed different to 
what it once did." Oh! cease to evade the 
inquiry. Anoint your eyes with eye-salve that 
you may see. Are you dead or alive ? 

Think not to reply, "You do not know; — 
you allow it is a matter of importance ; — you 
hope to know some time before you die ; — you 
mean to give your mind to it when you have a 
convenient season ; — but at present you do not 
know." 

You do not know! Yet heaven or hell is 
wrapped up in this question. An eternity of 
happiness or misery hinges upon your answer. 



LIVING OK DEAD. 43 

You do not leave your worldly affairs so un- 
settled. You do not manage your earthly 
business so loosely. You look far forward. 
You provide against every possible contingency. 
You insure life and property. Oh ! why not 
deal in the same way with your immortal soul ? 

You do not know ! Yet all around you is 
uncertainty. You are a poor frail worm, — your 
body fearfully and wonderfully made, — your 
health liable to be put out of order in a thousand 
ways. The next time the daisies bloom, it may 
be over your grave. All before you is dark. 
You know not what a day may bring forth, 
much less a year. Oh ! why not bring your 
soul's business to a point without delay ? 

Reader, begin the great business of self- 
examination. Rest not till you know the length 
and breadth of your own state in God's sight. 
Backwardness in this matter is an evil sign. It 
springs from an uneasy conscience. It shows 
that man thinks ill of his own case. He feels 
like a dishonest tradesman, that his accounts 
will not bear inquiry. He dreads the light. 

Reader, make sure work. Take nothing for 



44 LIVING OR DEAD. 

granted. Do not measure your condition by 
that of others. Bring everything to the measure 
of God's word. A mistake about your soul is a 
mistake for eternity. " Surely," says Leighton, 
" they that are not born again, shall one day 
wish they had never been born." 

Sit down this day and think. Commune with 
your own heart and be still. Go to your own 
room and consider. Enter into your own closet. 
or at any rate contrive to be alone with God. 
Look the question fairly, fully, honestly in the 
face. How does it touch you ? Are you among 
the living, or among the dead ?* 

2. In the second place, let me speak in full 
affection to those who are dead. 

What shall I say to you ? What can I say ? 
What words of mine are likely to have any 
effect on your hearts ? 

This I will say, I mourn over your souls. I 
do most unfeignedly mourn. You may be 

* " If your state be good, searching into it will give you 
the comfort of it. If your state be bad, searching into it can- 
not make it worse ; nay, it is the only way to make it better ; 
for conversion begins with conviction." — Bishop Hopkins. 
1680. 



LIVING OK DEAD. ' 45 

thoughtless and unconcerned. You may care 
little for what I am saying. You may scarcely 
run your eye over this paper, and after reading 
it, despise it, and return to the world ; but you 
cannot prevent my feeling for you, however 
little you may feel for yourselves. 

Do I mourn when I see a young man sapping 
the foundation of his bodily health, by indulging 
his lusts and passions, sowing bitterness for him- 
self in his old age? Much more then will I 
mourn over your souls. 

Do I mourn when I see men squandering 
away their inheritance, and wasting their prop- 
erty on trifles and follies ? Much more then 
will I mourn over your souls. 

Do I mourn when I hear of one drinking slow 
poisons, because they are pleasant, as the Chinese 
take opium, — putting the clock of his life on, as 
if it did not go fast enough, — inch by inch 
digging his own grave ? Much more then will 
I mourn over your souls. 

I mourn to think of golden opportunities 
thrown away, — of Christ rejected, — of the blood 
of atonement trampled under foot, — of the 



46 * LIVING OE DEAD. 

Spirit resisted, — the Bible neglected, — heaven 
despised, and the world put in the place of God. 

I mourn to think of the present happiness 
you are missing, — the peace and consolation 
you are thrusting from you, — the misery you 
are laying up in store for yourselves, and the 
bitter waking up which is yet to come. 

Yes ! I must mourn. I cannot help it. 
Others may think it enough to mourn over 
dead bodies. For my part, I think there is far 
more cause to mourn over dead souls. The 
children of this world find fault with us for be- 
ing so grave. Truly, when I look at the world, 
I marvel we can ever smile at all. 

Reader, dear Reader, why will you die ? Are 
the wages of sin so sweet and good that you 
cannot give them up ? Is the world so satisfy- 
ing that you cannot forsake it ? Is the service 
of Satan so pleasant that you and he are never 
to be parted ? Is heaven so poof a thing that 
it is not worth seeking? Is your soul of so 
little consequence that it is not worth a 
struggle to have it saved ? Oh ! turn, turn, be- 
fore it be too late. God is not willing that you 



LIVING OR DEAD. 47 

should perish. " As I live," He says, " I have 
no pleasure in the death of him that dieth." 
Jesus loves you, and grieves to see your folly. 
He wept over wicked Jerusalem, saying, " I 
would have gathered thee, but thou wouldst 
not be gathered." Surely if lost, your blood 
will be upon your own head. " Awake, and 
arise from the dead, and Christ shall give you 
light." 

Believe me, believe me, true repentance is 
that one step that no man ever repented. 
Thousands have said at their latter end, " they 
have served God too little :" no child of Adam 
ever said, as he left this world, that he had 
cared for his soul too much. The way of life 
is a narrow path, but the footsteps in it are all 
in one direction, — not one has ever come back 
and said it was a delusion. The way of the 
world is a broad way, but millions on millions 
have forsaken it, and borne their testimony it 
was a way of sorrow. 

Oh ! that this year might be a year of life to 
your soul ! Oh ! that the Spirit might come 
down upon your heart, and make you a new 



48 LIVINQ OR DEAD. 

man. I ask it of the Lord, as the prophet did 
of old, " Come from the four winds, O breath, 
and breathe upon these slain, that they may- 
live. " (Ezek. xxxvii. 9.) 

3. Let me, in the third place, speak to those 
who are living. 

Are you indeed alive unto God ? Can you 
say with truth, I was dead and am alive again, 
I was blind, but now I see ? Then suffer the 
word of exhortation, and incline your heart 
unto wisdom. 

Are you alive ? Then see that you prove it 
by your actions. Be a consistent witness. Let 
your words, and works, and ways, and tempers 
all tell the same story. Let not your life be a 
poor torpid life, like that of a tortoise or sloth ; 
— let it rather be an energetic stirring life, like 
that of a deer or bird. Let your grace shine 
forth from all the windows of your conversa- 
tion, that those who live near you may see 
that the Spirit is abiding in your hearts. Let 
your light not be a dim, flickering, uncertain 
flame, let it burn steadily like the eternal fire 
on the altar, and never become low. Let the 



LIVING OR DEAD. 49 

savor of your religion, like Mary's precious 
ointment, fill all the houses where you dwell. 
Be an Epistle of Christ, so clearly written, 
penned in such large bold characters, that he 
who runs may read it. Let your Christianity 
be so unmistakable, — your eye so single,-your 
heart so whole, — your walk so straightforward, 
that all who see you may have no doubt whose 
you are, and whom you serve. Oh! dear 
reader, if we are quickened by the Spirit, no 
one ought to be able to doubt it. Our conver- 
sation should declare plainly that we seek a 
country. It ought not to be necessary to tell 
people, as in the case of a badly painted pic- 
ture, " This is a Christian." We ought not to 
be so sluggish and still, that men shall be 
obliged to come close and look hard, and say, 
" Is he dead or alive ?" 

Are you alive ? Then see that you prove it 
by your growth. Let the great change within 
become every year more evident. Let your 
light be an increasing light, — not like Joshua's 
sun in the valley of Ajalon, standing still, — nor 
Hezekiah's sun, going back, — but ever shining 
4 



50 LIVING OE DEAD. 

more and more to the very end of your days. 
Let the image of your Lord, wherein you are 
renewed, grow clearer and sharper every 
month. Let it not be like the image and super- 
scription on a coin, more indistinct and defaced 
the longer it is used. Let it rather become 
more plain, the older it is, and the likeness of 
your King stand out more fully. I have no 
confidence in a standing-still religion. I do not 
think a Christian was meant to be like an ani- 
mal, to grow to a certain age, and then stop 
growing. I believe rather he was meant to be 
like a tree, and to increase more and more in 
strength and vigor all his days. Remember the 
words of the Apostle Peter, " Add to your faith 
virtue, and to virtue knowledge, and to knowl- 
edge temperance, and to temperance brotherly- 
kindness, and to brotherly kindness charity." 
(2 Peter i. 5, 6, 7.) This is the way to be a 
useful Christian. Men will believe you are in 
earnest when they see constant improvement, 
and perhaps be drawn to go with you.* This 

* "Men who are prejudiced observe actions a great deal 
more than words." — Leighton. 



LIVING OR DEAD. 51 

is one way to obtain comfortable assurance. 
" So an entrance shall be ministered unto you 
abundantly." (2 Peter i. 11.) Oh! as ever 
you would be useful and happy in your re- 
ligion, let your motto be, " Forward, forward/' 
to your very last day. 

Reader, I speak to myself as well as to you. 
I say the spiritual life there is in Christians 
ought to be more evident. Our lamps want 
trimming, — they ought not to burn so dim. Our 
separation from the world should be more dis- 
tinct, — our walk with God more decided. Too 
many of us are like Lot, lingerers, — or like 
Reuben, Gad, and Manasseh, borderers, — or like 
the Jews in Ezra's time, so much mixed up 
with strangers, that our spiritual pedigree can- 
not be made out. It ought not so to be. Let 
us be up and doing. If we live in the Spirit, 
let us also walk in the Spirit. If we really 
have life, let us make it known. 

The state of the world demands it. The 
latter days have fallen upon us. The kingdoms 
of the earth are shaking, falling, crashing, and 
crumbling away. (Isaiah xxiv. 1, etc.) The 



52 LIVING OR DEAD. 

glorious kingdom that will never be removed is 
drawing nigh. The King himself is close at 
hand. The children of this world are looking 
round to see what the saints are doing. God, 
in His wonderful providences, is calling to us, 
— " Who is on my side ?" Who ? — Surely we 
ought to be, like Abraham, very ready with our 
answer, " Here am I." 

"Ah!" you may say, "these are ancient 
things, these are brave words. We know it 
all. But we are weak, we have no power to 
think a good thought, we can do nothing, we 
must sit still." But hear me a little. What is 
the cause of your weakness ? Is it not because 
the fountain of life is little used ? Is it not be- 
cause you are resting on old experiences, and 
not daily gathering new manna, — daily drawing 
new strength from Christ? He has left 3^ou 
the promise of the Comforter. He giveth more 
grace, — grace upon grace to all who ask it. 
He came that you might have life, and have it 
more abundantly. " Open thy mouth wide," 
He says this day, " and I will fill it." (Psalm 
lxxxi. 10.) 



LIVING- OR DEAD. 53 

Reader, if you want your spiritual life to be 
more healthy and vigorous, you must just come 
more boldly to the throne of grace. You must 
give up this hanging back spirit, — this hesitation 
about taking the Lord at His own word. Doubt- 
less you are a poor sinner, and nothing at all. 
The Lord knows it, and has provided a store of 
strength for you. But you do not draw upon 
the store He has provided ; you have not, be- 
cause you ask not. The secret of your weak- 
ness is your little faith, and little prayer. The 
fountain is unsealed, but you only sip a few 
drops. The bread of life is before you, yet you 
only eat a few crumbs. The treasury of heaven 
is open, but you only take a few pence. O man 
of little faith, wherefore do you doubt ? 

Awake to know your privileges ; — awake, 
and sleep no longer. Tell me not of spiritual 
hunger, and thirst, and poverty, so long as the 
throne of grace is before you. Say rather, that 
you are proud, and will not come to it as a poor 
sinner. Say rather, you are slothful, and will 
not take pains to get more. 

Cast aside the grave-clothes of pride, that still 



54 LIVING OE DEAD. 

hang around you. Throw off that Egyptian 
garment of indolence, which ought not to have 
been brought through the Red Sea. Away 
with that unbelief, which ties and paralyzes 
your tongue. You are not straitened in God, 
but in yourself. Come boldly to the throne of 
grace, where the Father is ever waiting to give, 
and Jesus ever stands by Him to intercede. 
Come boldly, for you may, all sinful as you are, 
if you come in the name of the. Great High 
Priest. Come boldly, and ask largely, and 
you shall have abundant answers, — mercy like 
a river, and grace and strength like a mighty 
stream. Come boldly, and you shall have sup- 
plies exceeding all you can ask or think. Hith- 
erto you have asked nothing. Ask and receive 
that your joy may be full. 

Reader, I commend you to God, and to the 
Lord Jesus Christ. While you live, may you 
live unto the Lord. When you die, may you 
die the death of the righteous. And when the 
Lord Jesus comes, may you be found ready, and 
" not be ashamed before Him at His coming." 



(tasitor tjnur Wnty. 

" GOD IS MY RECORD HOW GREATLY I LONG AFTER YOTJ ALL." 

Philip, i. 8. 

Beloved Friends, — 

I wish to write a few words to you 
about your souls. I want those souls to be 
saved. And I invite you all to take the advice 
I give you to-day, and that is, to " consider youi? 
ways." 

I write to you, because the time is short. 
The day of grace is slipping away, — the day of 
judgment is drawing near, — the thread of life 
is winding up, — a few more short years, and 
every soul of us will have gone to his own place, 
— we shall each of us be in heaven or hell! 

I cannot reach your hearts, I know well. It 
is not me, — it needs the finger of God. But 
I can set before you my earnest wishes for 



56 CONSIDER YOUR WAYS. 

every class among you, and I will do it, the 
Lord being my helper. Bear with me if I say 
things that sound sharp and hard. Set it down 
to my anxiety for your salvation ; — I mean it 
all for your good. I write none other things 
but what I have gathered from the Bible, and 
as such I commend them to your consciences. 
Consider what I say. and the Lord give you 
understanding in all things. 

I. First of all let me say, there are very 
many among you whom I long to see awakened. 

You are those who have the name of Chris- 
tians, but not the character which should go 
with the name. God is not King of your hearts. 
You mind earthly things. I want you to " con- 
sider your ways/' 

I grant you may be quick and clever about 
the affairs of this life : you are, many of you, 
good men of business, good at your daily work, 
good masters, good servants, good neighbors, 
good subjects: all this I fully allow. But it is 
the eternal part of you that I speak of; it is 
your never-dying soul. And about that, if a 
man may judge by the little you do for it, you 



CONSIDER YOUR WAYS. 57 

are careless, thoughtless, reckless, and uncon- 
cerned. 

I do not say that God and salvation are sub- 
jects that never come across your minds ; — but 
this I say, they have not the uppermost place 
there. Neither do I say that you are all alike 
in your lives ; — some of you doubtless go farther 
in sin than others ; — but this I say. you have 
all turned every one to his own way, and that 
way is not God's. Brethren, when I look at 
the Bible I can come to only one conclusion 
about you, — you are asleep about your souls. 

You do not see the sinfulness of sin, and 
your own lost condition by nature. You ap- 
pear to make light of breaking God's com- 
mandments, and to care little whether you live 
according to his law or not. Yet God says 
that sin is the transgression of the law, — that 
His commandment is exceeding broad, — that 
every imagination of your natural heart is 
evil, — that sin is the thing He cannot bear, He 
hates it, — that the wages of sin is death, and 
the soul that sinneth shall die. Surely you are 
asleep ! 



58 CONSIDER YOUR WAYS. 

You do not see your need of a Saviour. You 
appear to think that it is an easy matter to get 
to heaven, and that God will of course be 
merciful to you at last some way or other, 
though you do not exactly know how. Yet 
God says that He is just and holy, and never 
changes,— that Christ is the only way, and 
none can come unto the Father but by Him, — 
that without His blood there can be no forgive- 
ness of sin, — that a man without Christ is a 
man without hope,— that those who would be 
saved must believe on Jesus, and come to Him, 
—and that he who believeth not shall be 
damned. Surely you are asleep ! 

You do not see the necessity of holiness. 
You appear to think it quite enough to go on 
as others do, and live like your neighbors. And 
as for praying and Bible-reading, making con- 
science of words and actions, studying truth- 
fulness and gentleness, humility and charity, 
and keeping separate from the world, they are 
things you do not seem to value at all. Yet 
God says, that without holiness no man shall 
see the Lord, — that there shall enter into heav- 



CONSIDER YOUR WAYS. 



59 



en nothing that defileth, — that His people 
must be a peculiar people, zealous of good 
works. Surely you are asleep ! 

And, worst of all, you do not appear to feel 
your danger. You walk on with your eyes 
shut, and seem not to know that the end of 
your path is hell. Some dreamers fancy they 
are rich when they are poor, or full when they 
are hungry, or well when they are sick, and 
awake to find it all a mistake. And this is the 
way that many of you dream about your souls ; 
you flatter yourselves you will have peace, and 
there will be no peace ; you fancy that you 
are all right, and in truth you will find that you 
are all wrong. Surely you are asleep! 

Dear Brethren, what can I say to arouse 
you ? Your souls are in awful peril : without 
a mighty change they will be lost. When shall 
that change once be ? 

You are dying, and not ready to depart ; — 
you are going to be judged, and not prepared 
to meet God ; — your sins are not forgiven, 
your persons are not justified, your hearts are 
not renewed. Heaven itself would be no hap- 



60 CONSIDER YOUR WAYS. 

piness to you if you got there, for the Lord of 
heaven is not your friend. What pleases Him 
does not please you. What He dislikes gives 
3^ou no pain. His word is not your counsellor. 
His day is not your delight. His law is not 
your guide. You care little for hearing of 
Him. You know nothing of speaking with 
Him. To be forever in His company would 
be a thing you could not endure ; and the 
society of saints and angels would be a weari- 
ness, and not a joy. At the rate you live at, 
the Bible might never have been written, and 
Christ might never have died, the Apostles 
were foolish, the New Testament Christians 
madmen, and the salvation of the Gospel a 
needless thing. Oh ! awake, and sleep no 
more ! 

Think not to say,- You cannot believe your 
case is so bad, or the danger so great, or God 
so particular. I answer, The devil has been 
putting this lying delusion into people's hearts 
for nearly six thousand years. It has been his 
grand snare ever since the day he said to Eve, 
" Ye shall not surely die." Do not be so weak 



CONSIDEK YOUK WAYS. 61 

as to be taken in by it. God never failed yet 
to punish sin, and He never will, He never 
failed to make his word good, and you will 
find this to your cost one day, except you re- 
pent. 

And think not to say, You are a member of 
Christ's Church, and therefore feel no doubt 
you are as good a Christian as others. I 
answer, This will only make your case worse, 
if you have nothing else to plead. You may 
be written down and registered among God's 
people ; you may be reckoned in the number 
of the saints ; you may sit for years under the 
sound of the Gospel ; you may use holy forms, 
and even come to the Lord's table at regular 
seasons ; — and still, with all this, unless sin be 
hateful, and Christ precious, and your heart a 
temple of the Holy Ghost, you will prove in 
the end no better than a lost soul. A holy 
calling will never save an unholy man. 

And think not to say, You have been bap- 
tized, and so feel confident you are born of 
God, and have His grace within you. I an- 
swer, You have none of the marks which St. 



62 CONSIDER YOUR WAYS. 

John has told me in his first Epistle, distinguish 
such a person. I do not see you confessing 
that Jesus is the Christ, — overcoming the 
world, — not committing sin, — loving your 
brother, — doing righteousness — keeping your- 
self from the wicked one. How then can I 
believe that you are born of God ? If God 
were your Father you would love Christ : if 
you were God's son you would be led by His 
Spirit. I want stronger evidences. Show me 
some repentance and faith ; show me a life 
hid with Christ in God ; show me a spiritual 
and sanctified conversation : — these are the 
fruits I want to see, if I am to believe you 
have the root of the matter in you, and are 
a living branch of the true vine. But with- 
out these your baptism will only add to your 
condemnation. 

Beloved Brethren, I speak strongly, because 
I feel deeply. Time is too short, life is too 
uncertain, to allow of standing on ceremony. 
At the risk of offending, I use great plainness 
of speech. I cannot bear the thought of hear- 
ing any of you condemned in the great day 



CONSIDER YOUR WAYS. 63 

of assize; — of seeing any of your faces in 
the crowd on God's left hand, among those 
who are helpless, hopeless, and beyond the 
reach of mercy. I cannot bear such thoughts, 
— they grieve me to the heart. Before the 
day of grace is past, and the day of vengeance 
begins, I call upon you to open your eyes 
and repent. Oh ! consider your ways and be 
wise. Turn ye, turn ye, why will ye die ? 

This day, as the ambassador of Christ, I pray 
you to be reconciled to God. The Lord Jesus 
who came into the world to save sinners, — 
Jesus, the appointed Mediator between God 
and man, — Jesus, who loved us, and gave Him- 
self for us, — Jesus sends you all a message of 
peace ; He says, " Come unto me." 

"Come" is a precious word indeed, and 
ought to draw you. You have sinned against 
heaven, — heaven has not sinned against you ; 
yet, see how the first step towards peace is 
on heaven's side, — it is the Lord's message, 
" Come unto me." 

"Come" is a word of merciful invitation. 
Does it not seem to say, " Sinner, I am waiting 



64 CONSIDER YOUR WATS. 

for you, I am not willing that any should 
perish, but that all should come to repentance. 
As I live, I have no pleasure in the death of 
him that dieth. I would have all men saved, 
and come to the knowledge of the truth. 
Judgment is my strange work, — I delight in 
mercy. I offer the water of life to every one 
who will take it. I stand at the door of your 
heart and knock. For long time I have spread 
out my hands to you. I wait to be gracious. 
There is yet room in my Father's house. My 
long-suffering waits for more of the children 
of men to come to the mercy-seat before the 
last trumpet is blown, — for more wanderers to 
return before the door is closed forever. Oh ! 
sinner, come to me." 

" Come" is a word of promise and encour- 
agement. Does it not seem to say, " Sinner, 
I have gifts ready for you ; I have something 
of everlasting importance to bestow upon your 
soul ; I have received gifts for men, even for 
the rebellious ; I have a free pardon for the 
most ungodly ; a full fountain for the most 
unclean ; a white garment for the most denied ; 



CONSIDER YOUR "WAYS. 65 

a new heart for the most hardened ; healing 
for the broken-hearted ; rest for the heavy- 
laden ; joy for those that mourn. Oh ! sinner, 
it is not for nothing that I invite you! All 
things are ready, — come, come unto me." 

Beloved Brethren, hear the voice of the Son 
of Grod. See that ye refuse not Him that 
speaketh. Come away from sin, which can 
never give you real pleasure, and will be 
bitter at the last. Come out from a world, 
which will never satisfy you. Come unto 
Christ. Come with all your sins, however 
many and however great, — however far you 
may have gone from God, and however pro- 
voking your conduct may have been. Come 
as you are, — unfit, unmeet, unprepared as you 
may think yourself, — you will gain no fitness 
by delay. Come at once, come to the Lord 
Jesus Christ. 

How indeed shall you escape, if you neglect 
so great salvation ? Where will you appear 
if you make light of the blood of Christ, and 
do despite to the Spirit of grace ? It is a 
fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living 
5 



CONSIDEE YOUK WATS. 



God, but never so fearful as when men fall 
from under the Gospel. The saddest road to 
hell is that which runs under the pulpit, past 
the Bible, and through the midst of warnings 
and invitations. Oh ! beware, lest like Israel 
at Kadesh, you mourn over your mistake 
when it is too late ; or like Judas Iscariot, find 
out your sin when there is no space for re- 
pentance. 

Arise, beloved Brethren, and call upon the 
Lord. Be not like Esau: sell not eternal 
blessings for the things of to-day. Surely 
the time past may suffice you to have been 
careless and prayerless, Godless and Christless, 
worldly and earthly-minded: surely the time 
to come may be given to your soul. 

Pray, I beseech you, that you may be en- 
abled to put off the old ways and the old 
habits, and that you may become new men. I 
yield to none in wishes for your happiness, 
and my best wish is that you may be made 
new creatures in Christ Jesus. This is a 
better thing than riches, or health, or honor, 
or learning. A man may get to heaven with- 



CONSIDER YOUR WAYS. 



67 



out these, but he cannot get there without 
conversion. Verily if you die without having 
been born again, you had far better never have 
been born at all. 

II. The second thing I have to say is this, 
— there are many among you whom I long to 
see decided followers of Christ. 

You are those who are wavering and halt- 
ing between two opinions. You seem not to 
have made up your minds. You appear to 
stand in doubt which is the true way of serv- 
ing God, and which the false. One day a man 
might think you loved Christ, — another he 
might suppose you did not care for Him at all. 
You are like the twilight, — I cannot call you 
darkness, — and yet you are not light in the 
Lord. There is so much right about you, that 
I cannot speak to you among the openly un- 
godly ; and yet there is so much wrong about 
you, that without a change you will never be 
saved. I want you also to " consider your ways." 

Wavering Brethren, of all classes in the 
Church, you are the most difficult to address : 
and no state is so dangerous as yours. 



68 CONSIDER YOUR WAYS. 

You see something of the evil of sin, and its 
awful consequences, but not all. You have 
thoughts about judgment and hell, and you 
would like to avoid them; — but you never 
really try. 

You see something of the blessedness of 
heaven, but not all. Its peace, and rest, and 
joy, and happiness, are things that come across 
your mind ; — but you never really seek to ob- 
tain them. 

There have been times when you have ap- 
peared convinced ; there seemed to be much 
melting and softening going on in your heart. 
You have been at Sinai, and been alarmed. 
You have been at Bochim, and wept You 
have been at Calvary, and had pricking of 
conscience. And yet those times have passed 
away, and your old things sjill remain. 

You have often looked like men going on 
pilgrimage : — you seemed ready to come out 
from the world ; — and then you have suddenly 
stopped, and gone no further. 

You have done many things that are good, 
— but unhappily, like Herod, you leave many 



CONSIDER YOUR WAYS. 69 

undone. You give up many habits that are 
bad, and yet you keep sufficient to make it 
plain you have no true grace in your hearts. 

Oh! wavering Brethren, what can be done 
for your soul ? — I am distressed for you. 

Many of you are so like true Christians, that 
the difference can hardly be seen. You are no 
opposers of true religion. You have no ob- 
jection to the preaching of the Gospel, and 
often take pains to hear it. You can enjoy the 
company of believers, and appear to take pleas- 
ure in their conversation and experience. You 
can even talk of the things of God as if you 
valued them. All this you can do. 

And yet there is nothing real about your re- 
ligion, — no real witnessing against sin, — no real 
separation from the world, — no peculiarity, — ■ 
no warfare. You can wear Christ's uniform 
in the time of peace, but, like the tribe of 
Reuben, you are wanting in the day of bat- 
tle. Times of trouble prove that you were 
never really on the Rock. Times of sickness 
and danger bring out the rottenness of your 
foundations. Times of temptation and perse- 



70 CONSIDER YOUR WAYS. 

cution discover the emptiness of your profes- 
sions. There is no dependence to be placed 
upon you. — Christians in the company of 
Christians, you are worldly in the company of 
the worldly. One week I shall find you read- 
ing spiritual books, as if you were all for eter- 
nity, — another I shall hear of your mixing in 
some earthly folly, as if you only thought of 
time. And so you go on, beating about in sight 
land, but never seeming to make up your mind 
to come into harbor; showing plainly that you 
have an idea of the way of life, but not de- 
cided enough to act upon your knowledge. 

O ! wavering Brethren, what can be done for 
you ? I tell you solemnly, I tremble for your 
souls. In your present course you will never 
taste peace, — you will go on without comfort, 
and go off without hope. 

Truly you are a wonder in creation. You 
stand alone. The devil wonders at you, how 
you can see so much of the way to heaven, 
and not walk in it. The angels wonder at you, 
how you can know so much of the Gospel, and 
yet stand still. Ministers wonder at you, how 



CONSIDER YOUR WAYS. 71 



you can march up to the borders of the prom- 
ised land, and yet not strive to enter in. Be- 
lievers wonder at you, how you can taste so 
much of the good word of God, and yet not de- 
termine to eat and live forever. Take heed, 
lest at last you prove a wonder to yourselves. 

Wavering Brethren, let me ask you a simple 
question. How long do you mean to continue 
as you are ? When do you intend to cease 
from being almost Christians, and become de- 
cided ? When do you mean to leave Agrippa, 
and join Paul ? You know in your heart 
and conscience you are not yet saved, — you 
have no oil in your lamps, — you have not the 
marks of Christ's people, — you are not true 
saints. You dare not deny what I say. 

When then do you propose to alter ? What 
is the thing that you are waiting for ? Oh ! 
turn not away from my question : sit down and 
answer it if you can. 

Are you waiting till you are sick and un- 
well? Surely you will not tell me that is a 
convenient season. When your body is racked 
with pain, — when your mind is distracted with 



72 CONSIDEE YOTTB WAYS. 

all kinds of anxious thoughts, — when calm re- 
flection is almost impossible, — is this a time for 
beginning the mighty work of acquaintance 
with God ? Do not talk so. 

Are you waiting till you are old? Surely 
you have not considered what you say. You 
will serve Christ when your members are worn 
out and decayed, and your hands unfit to work. 
You will go to Him when your mind is weak, 
and your memory failing. You will give up 
the world when you cannot keep it. You will 
set your affections on things above, when you 
find nothing to set them on in things below. Is 
this your plan ? Beware, lest you insult God. 

Are you waiting till you have leisure ? And 
when do you expect to have more time than 
you have now ? Every year you live seems 
shorter than the last : you find more to think 
of, or to do, and less power and opportunity to 
do it. And, after all, you know not whether 
you may live to see another year. Boast not 
yourself of to-morrow, — now is the time. 

Are you waiting till your heart is perfectly 
fit and ready ? That will never be. It will 



CONSIDER YOUR WAYS. 73 

always be corrupt and sinful,— a bubbling 
fountain, full of evil. You will never make 
it like a pure white sheet of paper, that you 
can take to Jesus and say, "Here I am, 
Lord, ready to have thy law written on my 
heart." Delay not. Better begin as you are. 

Are you waiting till the devil will let you 
come to Christ without trouble ? That will 
never be. Satan never gives up a single soul, 
without a struggle. If you would be saved 
you must fight for it. Stand not another 
day. Arise and go forward at once. 

Are you waiting till there is no cross to be 
borne ? That will never be. So long as sin is 
our enemy, and our own bodies weak and 
clogged by it, so long we must endure hard- 
ness, if we would be good soldiers of Jesus 
Christ, Go in the strength of the Lord God, 
and you shall overcome. If there is no cross 
there will be no crown. 

Are you waiting till all around you become 
decided ? That will never be. Heaven only 
is the place where all are saints. Earth is the 
place where sin reigns, and God's people are a 



74 CONSIDER YOUR WAYS. 

little flock. You must be content to journey 
alone, and swim against the stream. " Narrow 
is the way that leadeth unto life, and few there 
be that find it." Tarry not for friends and 
neighbors, — see that you are among the few. 

Are you waiting till the gate is wide ? That 
will never be. It will not alter, — it is not elas- 
tic, — it will not stretch. It is wide enough for 
the chief of sinners, if he comes in a humble 
and self-abased spirit. But if there is anything 
you are resolved not to give up, you will never, 
with all your struggling, get in. Lay aside 
every weight, — enter before the door is shut for- 
ever. 

And are you waiting because some few 
Christians are inconsistent, and some pro- 
fessors fall away ? Their folly is no excuse 
for you. Their sin will not justify your delay. 
Hear the word of the Lord Jesus, " What is 
that to thee, follow thou me." 

Oh ! wavering Brethren, are not your ex- 
cuses broken reeds — webs that will not cover 
you— wood, hay, and stubble, that will not 
abide the fire ? Are not your reasonings and 



CONSIDER YOUR WAYS. 75 

defences unprofitable and vain ? Be honest, — 
confess the truth. 

Turn not away from good advice. I fear 
lest the time should come when you will seek 
to enter in, and not be able. This day I charge 
you, throw away indecision, — wait no longer, 
become decided for Christ. 

No man is wise till he is decided. What 
can be more foolish, than to live on in uncer- 
tainty ? What can be more childish, than to 
appear not to know what is truth ? — to have 
two ways set before us, and not to be able to 
decide which is right ? Christ is on one side, 
and the world on the other, — the Bible is on 
the right hand, and man's opinion on the left : 
is it not a wonderful and horrible thing that 
you can think on these things, and yet for a 
moment doubt? Whether you believe the 
Gospel true or false, your present position is 
manifestly wrong. If it be true, you do not go 
far enough, — if it be false, you go too far. Oh ! 
be decided, — consider your ways and be wise. 

No man is safe till he is decided. All are in 
peril of ruin who are not real followers of 



76 CONSIDER TOUR WAYS, 

Christ, — who are not converted and made 
children of God. 

Wavering Brethren, you fancy there is a 
middle path between conversion and uncon- 
version. You are mistaken. There seems to 
be, the devil tells you there is, but in reality 
there is no such thing. There are but two 
kingdoms, — Christ's kingdom, and Satan's ; 
there is -no neutral ground between : — two 
parties, believers and unbelievers ; there is no 
third. Consider to which you belong. 

Some people, I know, will say you are in a 
hopeful state. I dare not say so, while you 
stand still. It would be flattery, and not charity. 
I tell you rather, your state is dangerous in the 
extreme. You have enough religion to satisfy 
you in a way, — you are not as other men, care- 
less, profligate, and the like, — but still you 
have not enough religion to do you good. You 
have not the Spirit of Christ, and are none 
of His. 

It is small comfort to my mind to hear that 
you are . not far from the kingdom of God, if 
you stop there. It wants another step to make 



CONSIDER YOUR WAYS. 77 

you safe, and without that, all the rest is use- 
less. I doubt not many were close to the door 
of the ark, when the flood came, but all alike 
were drowned who were not inside. Many, I 
dare say, came up to the gates of the cities of 
refuge, but none escaped the destroyer except 
those who really entered in. Be decided. This 
is the only way to be safe. 

And no man is quite happy in his religion 
till he is decided. There is little peace so long 
as you are halting and irresolute. You please 
no one altogether. Jesus has no consolations 
for you : He will have all your heart or none. 
The world is not satisfied with you : they can- 
not understand your behavior. True Chris- 
tians dare not comfort you : they can only look 
on you with suspicion and mistrust. You are 
like the Samaritans of old, who served the 
Lord and their own idols at the same time; 
they formed a middle class between the Jews 
and Gentiles, and yet were friends with neither ; 
— they were too much Gentiles for the Jews, 
and too much Jews for the Gentiles. This is 
just your case. You are trying that which 



78 CONSIDER YOUR WAYS, 

cannot be done ; you are trying to serve two 
masters, and no wonder you are ill at ease. 

Wavering Brethren, for your own peace 
sake, I invite you to choose the better part. 
Gird up the loins of your mind. Quit you like 
men. Be strong. God's conduct in punishing 
sin has ever been decided. Satan's conduct in 
tempting sinners has ever been decided. Why 
then are you not decided too ? 

Cry mightily unto the Lord, that you may 
be enabled to leave behind your wavering 
ways. Resolve that, by His grace, you will be 
true soldiers, real servants, men of God indeed ; 
— that you will never rest until you know in 
whom you believe. Cease to halt between two 
opinions. Let your eyes look right on. Cast 
loose your hold on the world. Lay hold on 
Christ, and commit yourselves to Him. No 
man ever came back from the narrow way, 
and reported that he was sorry for his choice. 
Thousands have lingered away life, as you are 
doing now, and have found too late, that the 
fruit of indecision is eternal sorrow. 

III. The last thing I have to say is this, 



CONSIDER YOUR -WAYS. 79 

there are some true Christians among you 
whom I long to see more holy and more bright. 

You are those who have found out your own 
sinfulness and lost estate, and really believe on 
Jesus for the saving of your souls. The eyes 
of your understanding have been opened by the 
Spirit, — He has led you to Christ, and you are 
new men. You have peace with God. Sin is 
no longer pleasant to you, — the world has no 
longer the first place in your heart, — all things 
are become new. You have ceased from trust- 
ing in your own works. You are willing to 
stand before the bar of God, and rest your soul 
on the finished work of Him who died for the 
ungodly. This is all your confidence, that you 
have washed your robes and made them white 
in the blood of the Lamb. I thank God heartily 
for what He hath wrought in your souls, but I 
ask you also to consider your ways. 

Believing Brethren, I write to you about 
your sanctification. There are those who think 
you are a class in our congregations that re- 
quire little writing to : you are within the pale 
of salvation — you may be almost let alone. I 



80 CONSIDER YOUR WAYS. 

cannot see it. I believe you need your minis- 
ter's care and exhortation as much as any, if 
not more. I believe that on your growth in 
grace and holiness, not merely your own com- 
fort, but the salvation of many souls, under 
God, depends. I believe that the converted 
members of a church should be preached to, 
spoken to, warned, counselled, far more than 
they are. You need many words of direction. 
You are still in the wilderness. You have not 
crossed Jordan. You are not yet at home. 

I see Paul beseeching the Thessalonians that 
as they have received of Him, how they ought 
to walk and please God, so they would abound 
more and more. I see him warning them not 
to sleep, as others do, but to watch and be 
sober. I see Peter telling believers to give 
diligence to make their calling and election 
sure ; to go on adding one grace to another ; to 
grow in grace, and in the knowledge of Christ. 
I wish to follow in their steps. I would remind 
you "that this is the will of God, even your 
sanctification," and I ask you to make it plain 
it is your will too. You were not chosen out of 



CONSIDER YOUR WAYS. 81 

the world to go to sleep, but that you might be 
holy. . You were not called of God that you 
might walk worthy of your calling. Recollect 
those solemn words, "He that lacketh these 
things is blind and cannot see afar off, and hath 
forgotten that he was purged from his old sins." 
(2 Peter i. 9.) 

Why do I say these things ? Is it because I 
think you do not know them ? No : but I want to 
stir you up by putting you in remembrance. Is 
it because I wish to discourage the poor in spirit, 
and make the heart of the righteous sad ? No 
indeed : I would not willingly do this. Is it 
because I think true Christians can ever fall 
away ? God forbid you should suppose I mean 
such a thing. 

But I say what I say because / am jealous 
for my Lord's honor. I wish the elect of 
God to be indeed a holy nation, and the sons 
of adoption to live as becomes the children of a 
King. I want those who are light in the Lord 
to walk as children of light, shining more and 
more every day. 

And I say it for the good of the world. You 
6 



82 CONSIDER YOUR WAYS. 

are almost the only book that worldly people 
read. Surely your lives should be epistles of 
Christ, so plain that he who runs may read 
them. The world cares little for doctrine, — 
the world knows nothing of experience, — but 
the world can understand a close walk with 
God. 

And not least I say it because of the times 
you live in. I write it down deliberately, I be- 
lieve there never were so many lukewarm saints 
as there are now; — there never was a time in 
which a low and carnal standard of Christian 
behavior so much prevailed ; — there never 
were so many babes in grace in the family of 
God, — so many who seem to sit still, and live 
on old experience, — so many w T ho appear to 
have need of nothing, and to be neither hun- 
gering nor thirsting after righteousness, as at the 
present time. I write this with all sorrow. It 
may be too painful to please some. But I ask 
you, as in God's sight, is it not true ? 

There is a generation of Christians in this 
age who grieve me to the heart. They make 
my blood run cold. I cannot understand them. 



CONSIDER YOUR WAYS. 83 

For anything that man's eye can see, they 
make no progress. They never seem to get on. 
Years roll on, and they are just the same, — the 
same besetting sins, the same infirmities of dis- 
position, the same weakness in trial, the same 
chilliness of heart, the same apathy, the same 
faint resemblance to Christ, — but no new 
knowledge, no increased interest in the king- 
dom, no freshness, no new strength, no new 
fruits, as if they grew. Are they not forgetting 
that growth is the proof of life, — that even the 
yew-tree grows, and the snail and the sloth 
move ? Are they not forgetting how awfully 
far a man may go, and yet not be a true Chris- 
tian ? He may be like a waxwork figure, the 
very image of a believer, and yet not have 
within him the breath of God : — he may have 
a name to live, and be dead after all. 

Believing Brethren, these are the reasons 
why I write so strongly. I want your Christi- 
anity to be unmistakable. I want you all to 
grow really, and to do more than others. Let 
us all henceforth remember Sardis and Laodi- 
cea, — let us resolve to be more holy and more 



84 CONSIDER YOUR WAYS. 

bright. Let us bury our idols. Let us put 
away all strange gods. Let us cast out the old 
leaven. Let us lay aside every weight and 
besetting sin. Let us cleanse ourselves from 
all filthiness of flesh and spirit, and perfect ho- 
liness in the fear of God. Let us renew our 
covenant w 7 ith our beloved Lord. Let us aim 
at the highest and best things. Let us resolve 
by God's blessing to be more holy, and then I 
know and am persuaded we shall be more use- 
ful and more happy. 

I name some things for prayerful considera- 
tion. 

1. Let us then, for one thing, begin with a 
humble confession of past unprofitableness and 
shortcomings. 

Let us acknowledge with shame and contri- 
tion that we have not hitherto lived up to our 
light. We ought to have been the salt of the 
earth ; — but there has been little savor of Christ 
about us. We ought to have been the light of 
the world ; — but we have most- of us been little 
glimmering sparks that could scarcely be seen. 
We ought to have been a peculiar people ; — 



CONSIDER YOUR WAYS. 



85 



but the difference between us and the world 
has been faint and small. We ought to have 
been, like Levites, in Israel, a distinct people, 
among professing Christians : — but we have 
too often behaved as if we belonged to some 
other tribe. We ought to have looked on this 
world as an inn, and we have settled down in 
it as if it were our home : — it ought to have 
been counted our school of training for eter- 
nity, and we have been at ease in it as if it 
were our continuing city, or trifled away time 
in it, as if we were meant to play and not to 
learn. We ought to have been careful for 
nothing, and we have been careful and troubled 
about many things, — we have allowed the af- 
fairs of this life to eat out the heart of our 
spirituality, and have been cumbered with much 
serving. 

How rarely we have heard the Gospel like 
men in earnest, — and read the Bible as if we 
were feeding on it, — and prayed as if we 
wanted an answer ! How poor and feeble has 
been our witness against sin ! How seldom 
have we looked like men about our Father's 



CONSIDER YOUR WAYS. 



business ! How little have we known about 
singleness of eye, and wholeness of heart, and 
walking in the Spirit! How weak has been 
our faith, how feeble our hope, how cold our 
charity ! How few of us have lived as if we 
believed all that is written in the Word, and 
moved through life like pilgrims travelling to a 
better land ! 

Oh! Brethren believers, have we not good 
reason to be ashamed when we think on these 
things ? Very grievous are they, and we ought 
to feel it. Let us begin with self-abasement, 
— let us cry " God be merciful to us sinners, — 
take away our iniquity, for we have done very 
foolishly." 

2. In the next place, let us all seek to " abide 
in Christ " more thoroughly than we have 
hitherto. 

Christ is the true spring of life in every be- 
liever's soul, the head on which every member 
depends, the corner-stone of all real sanctifica- 
tion. Whenever I see a child of God becoming 
less holy than he was, I know the secret of it, 
— he is clinging less firmly to Christ than he 



CONSIDER YOUR WAYS. 87 

did. Our root must be right, if our fruit is to 
abound. 

Brethren, let us strive after close union and 
communion with Christ. Let us go to Him 
oftener, speak with Him more frequently, trust 
Him more wholly, look to Him more con- 
stantly, lean upon Him more entirely. This is 
the way to go through the wilderness without 
fainting, and to run the race set before us with 
patience. Let us live the life of faith in the 
Son of God. He is the vine and we are the 
branches : — let all our strength be drawn from 
Him : separate from him we can do nothing. 
He is the Sun of righteousness ; — let us seek 
our comfort in Him, and not in our own frames 
and feelings. He is the bread of life ; — let us 
feed on Him day by day, as Israel on the 
manna, and not on our own experiences. Let 
Christ become more and more all things to us : 
His blood our peace, — His intercession our 
comfort, — His word our warrant, — His grace 
our strength, — His sympathy our support, — His 
speedy coming our hope. Let others spend 



CONSIDER YOUR WAYS. 



their time on new books if they will, let us 
rather study to learn Christ. 

We know a little of Christ as our Saviour, 
but Oh ! how small a portion have we seen of 
the fulness that is in Him ! Like the Indians, 
when America was first discovered, we are not 
aware of the amazing value of the gold and 
treasure in our hands. Believe me, if we did 
but realize the blessedness of free and full for- 
giveness in Him, we should be men of a differ- 
ent stamp. The man who feels the blood of 
atonement sprinkled on his conscience, — the 
man who enjoys assurance that he is washed, 
and justified, and accepted in the Beloved, this 
is the man who will be holy indeed, this is the 
man who will bear much fruit. He will labor 
cheerfully, — he will suffer patiently, — he will 
witness confidently, — he will press on unflinch- 
ingly, — he will love warmly. Redemption is 
ever fresh upon his mind, and his thought is, 
" What shall I render unto the Lord for all his 
benefits ?" 

Brethren, let us cleave to Christ more closely. 
Let us draw nearer to the cross. Let us sit at 



CONSIDER YOUR WAYS. 89 

the feet of Jesus. Let us drink into the spirit 
of the apostle when he said, " To me to live is 
Christ." Let us do this, and we shall grow. 

3. And let us beware of excuses. 

Reasons will never be wanting in our minds 
why we cannot be bright and eminent Chris- 
tians just now. It is very possible to admire 
a high standard of spirituality in others, while 
we are content with very low practice our- 
selves. We persuade ourselves there is some- 
thing peculiar in our particular case, which 
makes it almost impossible to shine. But let 
all excuses be received, like Babylonian am- 
bassadors, with great suspicion. They are 
generally the devil's coinage. Let us settle it 
firmly in our hearts, that there are few of us 
indeed who cannot glorify God just where we 
are without any change. All our excuses are 
as dust in the balance when placed against that 
promise, "My grace is sufficient for thee." Let 
us not deceive ourselves. By the grace of God 
we may be bright saints even now. 

Let us not say, " We have bad health." Re- 
member the apostle Paul : — he had a thorn in 



90 CONSIDER YOUR WAYS. 

the flesh, — some never-ceasing ailment, prob- 
ably, — and yet it seemed a spur rather than a 
hindrance to his soul. 

Let us not say, " We have many trials." Re- 
member Job: — wave upon wave came rolling 
over him, and yet his faith did not give way ; 
and the record of his patience is on high. 

Let us not say, " We have families and chil- 
dren to make us anxious and keep us back." 
Remember David : — none was ever so tried at 
home as he was, yet he was a man after God's 
own heart. 

Let us not say, " We have press of distract- 
ing business to attend on." Remember Daniel: 
— he had far more affairs on his hands prob- 
ably than any of us, yet he found time to pray 
th ree tim es a day, and was a proverb for godli- 
ness. 

Let us not say, " i" stand alone, the times 
are evil, and none around me serve God." Re- 
member Noah:— the whole world was against 
him, yet he did not give way. By faith he held 
fast. 

Let us not say, " We live in families where 



CONSIDER YOUR WAYS. 91 

God is not thought of." Remember Obadiah 
in Ahab's house, and Nero's servants at 
Rome. What are our difficulties compared 
with theirs ? 

Let us not say, " We are poor and unlearn- 
ed" Remember Peter and John. They were 
as poor and unlearned as any of us, yet they 
were pillars of the early Church, they were of 
the number of those who turned the world up- 
side down. 

No! believing Brethren, such excuses for 
not being more holy will never do while 
grace may be had. Let us say rather, " We 
are slothful and take no trouble, — we are 
unbelieving and make no bold attempt, — we 
are worldly and our eyes are too dim to see 
the beauty of holiness, — we are proud and 
we cannot humble ourselves to take pains." 
Let us say this, and we shall more likely 
speak the truth. There are always ways in 
which we may glorify God : there are passive 
graces as well as active. But the way of 
the slothful is always a hedge of thorns. 
The wall of Jerusalem was soon built when 



92 CONSIDER YOUR WAYS. 

the Jews had " a mind to work." We com- 
plain of the devil, but there is no devil after 
all like our own hearts. We have not grace 
because we do not ask it. The fault is all 
our own. 

4. Let us be on our guard against false 
doctrine. 

Unsound faith will never be the mother of 
really sound practice, and in these latter days 
departures from the faith abound. See then 
that your loins be girt about with truth, and 
be very jealous of receiving anything which 
cannot be proved by the Bible. Think not 
for a moment that false doctrine will meet 
you face to face, saying " I am false doctrine, 
and I want to come into your heart." Satan 
does not go to work in that way. He dresses 
up false doctrine like Jezebel, — he paints her 
face and tires her head, and tries to make 
her like truth. Think not that those who 
preach error will never preach anything that 
is true. Error would do little harm if that 
was the case. No! error will come before 
you mingled with much that is sound and 



CONSIDER YOUR WAYS. 93 

scriptural. The sermon will be all right ex- 
cepting a few sentences. The book will be 
all good excepting a few pages. And this is 
the chief danger of religious error in these 
times, — it is like the subtle poisons of days 
gone by, — it works so deceitfully that it throws 
men off their guard. Brethren, take care. Re- 
member that even Satan himself is transformed 
into an angel of light. 

Keep clear of any system of religion which 
confounds the world and true believers, and 
makes no broad distinction between those who 
are true children of God in a congregation, 
and those who are not. Be not carried away 
by an appearance of great self-denial and hu- 
mility. It is far easier to fast and wear sack- 
cloth, and be of a sad countenance, than to 
receive thoroughly the doctrine of justification 
by faith without the deeds of the law. 

Call no man father upon earth. Build not 
your faith on any minister or set of ministers. 
Let no man become your Pope. Make no 
Christian living your standard of what is right 
in faith or practice, however high his name, 



94 CONSIDER YOUR WAYS. 

his rank, or his learning. Let your creed be 
the Bible, and nothing but the Bible ; and your 
example Christ, and nothing short of Him. 

Take heed, lest your minds be corrupted 
from the simplicity that is in Christ. Be care- 
ful what books you read on religious subjects : 
many books of this day are leavened with doc- 
trines which spoil the Gospel. Examine your- 
selves often whether you are standing in the 
old paths. Our lost estate by nature, — our re- 
covery through our Saviour's kindness and 
love, — our need of regeneration and renewal, 
— our justification through grace; — these are 
the grand doctrines, as Paul told Titus; and 
these are the points on which we must be 
sound, if we would maintain good works. 

5. Let us resolve to make conscience of 
little things in our daily religion. 

Let us not neglect little duties, — let us not 
allow ourselves in little faults. Whatever we 
may like to think, nothing is really of small 
importance that affects the soul. All diseases 
are small at the beginning. Many a death-bed 
begins with " a little cold." Nothing that can 



CONSIDER YOUR WAYS. 95 

grow is large all at once, — the greatest sin 
must have a beginning. Nothing that is great 
comes to perfection in a day, — characters and 
habits are all the result of little actions. Little 
strokes made that ark which saved Noah. 
Little pins held firm that tabernacle which was 
the glory of Israel. We too are travelling 
through a wilderness, — let us be like the family 
of Merari, and be careful not to leave the pins 
behind. (Numbers iv. 32.) 

Believers, do not forget how full the Epistles 
are of instruction about the particulars of 
Christian life. The apostles seem to take no- 
thing for granted. They do not think it suffi- 
cient to say, "be holy," — they take care to 
specify and name the things in which holiness 
is shown. See how they dwell on the duties 
of husbands and wives, masters and servants, 
parents and children, rulers and subjects, old 
people and young. See how they single out 
and urge upon us industry in business, kind- 
ness in temper, forgiveness in disposition, 
honesty, truthfulness, temperance, meekness, 
gentleness, humility, charity, patience, courtesy. 



96 CONSIDER YOUR WAYS. 

See how they exhort us to honor all men, to 
govern our tongues, to season our speech with 
grace, to abstain from foolish talking and jest- 
ing, not to please ourselves only, to redeem the 
time, to be content with such things as we 
have, and whether we eat or drink to do all in 
the name of the Lord Jesus. 

Brethren, some people think that to dwell on 
such things is bondage ; but I believe it good 
to remind you of them, — I am sure it is safe. 
If the Spirit of God thought it wise to dwell so 
much on them in the word, I cannot doubt it 
must be wise for us to attend to them in our 
walk. It is much more easy to profess holiness 
in a general way, than to carry it out in par- 
ticulars ; and I fear that many talk familiarly of 
santification in the lump, who know but little 
of it in the piece. 

I firmly believe that looseness about these 
little things in our daily behavior, is a special 
means of grieving the Spirit of God, and of 
bringing upon us in consequence barrenness 
and leanness of soul. 



CONSIDER YOUR WAYS. 97 

6. Let us be more active, in endeavors to do 
good to the world. 

Surely we may all do far more for uncon- 
verted souls than we have ever done yet. Many 
of us, alas ! take things so quietly, that a man 
might suppose every one about us was convert- 
ed, and the kingdom of Christ fully set up. I 
pray you let us lay aside these lazy habits. 

Are all our friends and relations in Christ ? 
Are all our neighbors and acquaintances inside 
the ark ? Have all within our reach received 

the truth in the love of it ? Have we asked 

I 

them all to come in ? Have we told them all 
the way of salvation, and our own experience 
that the way is good ? Have we done all that 
we can ? Have we tried every means ? Is 
there no one left to whom we can show Chris- 
tian kindness, and offer the Gospel ? Can we 
lift up ouf hands to God, as one by one, souls 
around us are taken away, and say, " Our 
eyes, O Lord, have not seen this blood, and its 
loss cannot in any wise be laid at our door !" 
Surely, my Brethren, grace ought to be as ac- 
tive a principle in trying to spread godliness, as 
1 



CONSIDER YOUR WAYS. 



sin is in trying to spread evil. Surely if we 
had a tenth part of the zeal which Satan shows 
to enlarge his kingdom, we should be far more 
full of care for other men's souls. Where is 
our mercy and compassion, if we can see dis- 
ease of soul about us, and not desire to make it 
less? 

Let us awake to a right understanding of 
our responsibility in this matter. We complain 
of the world being full of wickedness. It is so. 
But do we each do our own part in trying to 
make it better ? Do we act upon the old say- 
ing, " The city is soon clean when every man 
sweeps before his own door?" Let us try 
more to do good to all. Let us reckon it a 
painful thing to go to heaven alone, — let us en- 
deavor, as far as we can, to take companions 
with us. Let us no longer be silent witnesses 
and muffled bells. Let us warn, and beseech, 
and invite, and rebuke, and advise, and testify 
of Christ, on the right hand and on the left, ac- 
cording as we have opportunity, — saying to 
men, " Come with us, and we will do you good, 
— the light is sweet, come and walk in the light 



CONSIDER YOUR WAYS. 99 

of the Lord." Let us not suppose no good is 
done in this way, because our eyes do not see 
it: we must walk by faith, and not by sight. 
Let us not be weary in well-doing, because we 
appear to labor in vain ; we may rest assured 
we are in the hands of a good Master, — in due 
time we shall reap if we faint not. 

Activity in doing good is one receipt for 
being cheerful Christians : it is like exercise to 
the body, — it keeps the soul in health. 

It is one great proof of love toward the Lord 
Jesus, and a proof that can only be given while 
we are alive. Now is the time for doing good 
to others, and not hereafter. In heaven there 
will be no missionary societies, no Bible so- 
cieties, no visiting societies, no careless to 
warn, no ignorant to instruct, no sick to minis- 
ter to, no mourners to comfort, no fainting 
saints to cheer. In heaven there will be love, 
joy, peace, thankfulness ; but in heaven there 
will be no place for faith, zeal, courage, labor 
patience, — their occupation will be over: — if 
ever we mean to show these graces it must be 
now. Oh! let us make haste, for the time is 



100 CONSIDER YOUR WAYS. 

short. Let us be like Christian, in Pilgrim's 
Progress, — when his burden fell off at the sepul- 
chre, his first act was to try to awaken sleeping 
souls. 

7. Lastly, let us take more pains to edify 
other believers. 

It is wonderful and sad to see how Scripture 
speaks on this matter, and then to observe the 
conduct of many of Christ's people. 

Paul tells the Corinthians, that the members 
of Christ " should have the same care one for 
another." He says to the Thessalonians, " Edi- 
fy one another, even as also ye do." He says 
to the Hebrews, "Exhort one another daily, 
lest any be hardened through the deceitfulness 
of sin," and again, "Consider one another to 
provoke unto love and good works ; — exhorting 
one another, and so much the more as ye see 
the day approaching." 

Brethren, I fear we fall very short of the 
New Testament Christians in this respect. We 
are sadly apt to lose sight of this edifying one 
another, when we are in the company of be- 
lieving friends. Prayer, and the Word, and 



CONSIDER YOUR WAYS. 101 

godly conversation, are not put in the foremost 
place, and so we separate, nothing better, but 
rather worse. Far too often there is so much 
coldness, and restraint, and reserve, and back- 
wardness, that a man might fancy we were 
ashamed of Christ, and that we thought it 
proper to hold our tongues, and not make men- 
tion of the name of the Lord. 

These things ought not so to be. We pro- 
fess that we are all fighting the same fight, — 
contending with the same enemies, — plagued 
with the same evil hearts, — trusting in the 
same Lord, led by the same Spirit, — eating 
the same bread, — journeying towards the same 
home. Then why should we not show it? 
Why should we not be always ready to com- 
mune with each other ? Why should we not 
try to help each other forward, — to profit by 
each other's experience, — to bear each other's 
burdens, — to strengthen each other's hands, — to 
quicken each, other's hearts, — to speak with 
each other, like- Moses and Jethro,of the things 
pertaining to our King. There is a fault among 
us here, and one that ought to, be amended. 



102 CONSIDER YOUR WAYS. 

Let us bring out the Bible more when we get 
together. We none of us know it all yet ; our 
brother may have found some pearl in it which 
has escaped our eyes, and we perhaps may 
show him something in return. It is the com- 
mon map by which we all journey ; let us not 
behave as if we had each a private map to be 
studied in a corner, and kept to ourselves. Oh ! 
that the Word were like a burning fire shut up 
in our bones, so that we could not forbear speak- 
ing of it ! 

Let us speak oftener about the eternal home 
towards which we travel. Children, before 
their holidays, love to talk of home, — their 
hearts are full, they cannot help it, — why should 
not we ? Surely it ill becomes the citizens of 
heaven to say nothing of heaven to those with 
whom they expect to dwell forever. 

Let us aim at closer communion with all 
true believers. This will go far to procure 
Christ's presence with us on our journey. The 
two disciples who went to Emmaus were talk- 
ing of holy things when they were joined by 
the Lord. Let us speak often one to another, 



CONSIDER YOUR WAYS. 103 

and the Lord will hearken and remember it. 
This too will mightily promote the growth and 
comfort of our souls. The fire within us needs 
constant stirring, as well as feeding, to keep it 
bright. Many can testify that they find com- 
munion a special means of grace. As iron 
sharpeneth iron, so doth the countenance of a 
man his friend ; — and the weakest too may 
sharpen the strongest, even as the whetstone 
does the scythe. He that tries to promote holi- 
ness in others shall reap a blessed reward in 
his own soul, — he waters others, and he shall 
be watered himself. 

Brethren believers, I have thought it good to 
name these things in writing to you about sanc- 
tification. I desire to do it in all humility. I 
need reminding of them as much as any. Let 
us all resolve to set them before us, and I am 
sure we shall not repent it. 

And now, beloved Brethren, I have done ; I 
have told you one and all the longings and de 
sires of my heart. Conversion for the uncon- 
verted, decision for the wavering, growth in 



104 CONSIDER YOUR WAYS. 

grace for the believer, — this seals up the sum 
of my wishes for you. 

I can wish you nothing better, for this is the 
way to true happiness. I will wish you nothing 
less, for without these things I am sure there is 
no peace. Consider well what I have said. 

Death may be busy among us very soon, — 
let us all be found in Christ and prepared. Sa- 
tan will be busy among us no doubt, — let us all 
watch and pray. Let us beware of a spirit of 
slumber and formality, and especially in private 
reading and praying. Let our path to the foun- 
tain be w T orn with daily journeys, let our key 
to the treasury of grace be bright with constant 
use. Let us pray more, and let us pray more 
earnestly. Let those who never prayed begin 
to pray. Let those who have prayed pray 
better. 

Pray for yourselves, — that you may know 
the Lord Jesus, and cleave to Him r — that you 
may be kept from falling, — that you may serve 
your generation, — that you may be sober in 
prosperity, patient in trial, and humble at all 
times. 



CONSIDER YOUE WAYS. 105 

Pray for the congregation to which you be- 
long, — that the word of the Lord may have free 
course in it, and be glorified, that the household 
of faith may become stronger and stronger, and 
the household of unbelief weaker and weaker. 

Pray for your country, — that her ministers 
may preach the Gospel, and be sound in the 
faith, — that her rulers may value the Bible, and 
govern according to it, — and that so her can- 
dlestick may not be taken away. 

And pray not least for your minister, that 
he may be strong to work, and willing to labor 
for your good, — that all his sicknesses may be 
sanctified, and all his health given to the Lord, 
— that he may be ever taught of the Spirit, and 
thus be able to teach others, — -that he may be 
kept faithful unto death, and so be ready to de- 
part when he is called. 

Let us all pray, one for the other, — I for you, 
and you for me, — and we shall be blessed in 
our deed. 



%xt qmt /nrgton 



"YOUR SINS ARE FORGIVEN YOU. 

1 John ii. 12. 

Reader, — 

Do you see the question which stands at 
the head of this page ? It is just possible you 
may not understand its meaning. Perhaps you 
may think, " Whom have I injured ? Whom 
have I defrauded ? Whom have I wronged ? 
Whose confidence have I forfeited ? What 
need have I of forgiveness ?" 

I answer, it is not an earthly forgiveness I 
am asking about, but a heavenly one. I do not 
inquire whether you are forgiven in the sight 
of men, but whether you are forgiven in the 
sight of God. The question I desire to press 
home on your conscience is simply this, " Are 
you a pardoned soul ?" 

Come, now, and give me your attention, 



ARE YOU FORGIVEN. 107 

while I speak to you about the forgiveness of 
sins. The subject is one which can never be 
considered too soon. We lately saw the pesti- 
lence slaying its thousands and tens of thou- 
sands of our countrymen. The strongest were 
carried off in a few hours. The cleverest phy- 
sicians found their skill entirely unavailing. 
We live yet, and we may well be thankful. We 
live yet, and surely we should be thoughtful. Our 
turn may come next. Our graves may soon 
be ready for us. Come then, I say once more, 
and let me speak to you about the forgiveness 
of sins. 

1. Let me show you first of all your need 
of forgiveness. 

All men need forgiveness, because all men 
are sinners. He that does not know this, knows 
nothing in religion. It is the very A B C of 
Christianity, that a man should know his right 
place, and understand his deserts. 

We are all great sinners. Sinners we were 
born, and sinners we have been all our lives- 
We take to sin naturally from the very first 
No child ever needs schooling and education 



108 ARE YOU FOKGIVEN. 

to teach it to do wrong. No devil or bad com- 
panion ever leads us into such wickedness as 
our own hearts. And yet the wages of sin is 
death. We must either be forgiven, or lost 
eternally.* 

We are all guilty sinners m the sight of God. 
We have broken His holy law. We have 
transgressed His precepts. We have not done 
His will. There is not a commandment in all 
the ten that does not condemn us. If we have 
not broken it in deed, w T e have in word. If we 
have not broken it in word, w T e have in thought 
and imagination, — and that continually. Tried 
by the standard of the fifth chapter of St. Mat- 
thew, there is not one of us that would be ac- 
quitted. And yet it is appointed unto men 
once to die, and after this comes the judgment. 
We must either be forgiven, or perish everlast- 
ingly. 

* " No man that seeth himself to be a sinner really, can 
count himself a small or little sinner. Nor can it eyer be, 
till there be a little law to break, a little God to offend, a 
little guilt to contract, and a little wrath to incur. All which 
are impossible to be, blasphemy to wish, and madness to ex- 
pect."— Traill. 1690. 



AKE YOU FORGIVEN. 109 

When I walk through the crowded streets 
of London, I see hundreds and thousands, of 
whom I know nothing beyond their outward 
appearance. I see some bent on pleasure, and 
some on business, — some who look rich, and 
some who look poor, — some rolling in their 
carriages, some hurrying along on foot. Each 
has his own object in view. Each has his own 
aims and ends, all alike hidden from me. But 
one thing I know for a certainty, as I look upon 
them, they are all sinners. There is not a soul 
among them all but is guilty before God. There 
breathes not the man or woman in that crowd, 
but must die forgiven, or else rise again to be 
condemned forever at the last day. 

When I look through the length and breadth 
of Great Britain, I must make the same report. 
From the Land's End to the North Foreland, 
— from the Isle of Wight to Caithness, — from 
the Queen on the throne to the pauper in the 
workhouse, — we are all sinners. We have got 
a name among the Empires of the earth. We 
send our ships into every sea, and our mer- 
chandise into every town in the world. We 



110 ARE YOU FORGIVEN. 

have bridged the Atlantic with our steamers. 
We have made night in our cities like day with 
gas. We have changed England into one great 
county by railways. We can exchange thought 
between London and Edinburgh in a few sec- 
onds by the electric telegraph. But with all our 
arts and sciences, — with all our machinery and 
inventions, — with all our armies and navies, — 
with all our lawyers and statesmen, we have 
not altered the natures of our people ; — we are 
still in the eye of God an island full of sinners. 
When I turn to the map of the world, I must 
say the same thing. It matters not what quar- 
ter I examine, I find men's hearts are every- 
where the same, and everywhere wicked. Sin 
is the family disease of all the children of Adam. 
Never has there been a corner of the earth dis- 
covered, where sin and the devil do not reign. 
Wide as the differences are between the na- 
tions of the earth, they have been found to 
have one great mark in common. Europe and 
Asia, Africa and America, Iceland and India, 
Paris and Pekin, all alike have the mark of sin. 
The eye of the Lord looks down on this globe 



ARE YOU FORGIVEN. Ill 

of ours, as it rolls round the sun, and sees it 
covered with corruption and wickedness. What 
he sees in the moon and stars, Jupiter and 
Saturn, I cannot tell, — but on the earth I know- 
He sees sin. (Psalm xiv. 2, 3.) 

Reader, you may not perhaps like what I am 
saying. I have no doubt such language as this 
sounds extravagant to some. You think I am 
going much too far. But mark well what I am 
about to say next, and then consider whether 
I have not used the words of soberness and truth. 

What then, I ask, is the life of the best 
Christian amongst us all? What is it but one 
great arrear, — one long catalogue of short- 
comings ? What is it but a daily acting out 
the words of our Prayer Book, "leaving un- 
done things that we ought to do, and doing 
things that we ought not to do ?" Our faith, 
how feeble ! Our love, how cold ! Our works, 
how few ! Our zeal, how small ! Our patience, 
how short-breathed ! Our humility, how thread- 
bare? Our self-denial, how dwarfish ! Our 
knowledge, how dim ! Our spirituality, how 
shallow ! Our prayers, how formal ! Our de- 



112 AEE YOU FOEGIVEN. 

sires for more grace, how faint ! Never did the 
wisest of men speak more wisely than when 
he said, " There is not a just man upon earth 
that doeth good and sinneth not." (Eccles. 
vii. 20.) " In many things/' says the apostle 
James, " we offend all." (James hi. 2.) 

And what is the best action that is ever done 
by the very best of Christians ? What is it 
after all but an imperfect work, when tried on 
its own merits? It is, as Luther says, no better 
than a splendid sin. It is always more or less 
defective. It is either wrong in its motive, or 
incomplete in its performance, — not done from 
perfect principles, or not executed in a perfect 
way. The eyes of men may see no fault in it, 
but weighed in the balance of God it w T ould 
be found wanting, and viewed in the light of 
heaven, it would prove full of flaws. It is like 
the drop of water which seems clear to the 
naked eye, but placed under a microscope is 
discovered to be full of impurity. David's ac- 
count is literally true, " There is none that 
doeth good, no not one." (Psalm xiv. 3.)* 

s " Let us acknowledge ourselves before God, as we be 



AKE YOU FOKGIVEN. 113 

And then, what is the Lord God, whose eyes 
are on all our ways, and before whom we have 
one day to give account ? " Holy, holy, holy," 
is the remarkable expression applied to Him by 
those who are nearest to Him. (Isaiah vi. 3. 
Rev. iv. 8.) It sounds as if no one word could 
express the intensity of His holiness. One of 
His prophets says, "He is of purer eyes than to 
behold evil, and cannot look on iniquity." 

indeed, miserable and wretched sinners. Let us all confess 
with mouth and heart, that we be full of imperfections. 
There be imperfections in our best works ; we do not love 
God so much as we are bound to do, with all our heart, 
mind, and power : we do not fear God so much as we ought 
to do : we do not pray to God, but with many and great im- 
perfections ; we give, forgive, believe, live, and hope imper- 
fectly : we speak, think, and do imperfectly : we fight 
against the devil, the world, and the flesh imperfectly. Let us 
not be ashamed to confess imperfection, even in all our own best 
works." — Church of England Homily on the Misery of Man. 

" If God should make us an offer thus large, Search all the 
generations of men since the fall of your father Adam, find 
one man that hath done any one action, which hath past from 
him pure, without any stain or blemish at all ; and for that 
one man's one only action, neither man nor angel shall feel 
the torments which are prepared for both : do you think this 
ransom, to deliver men and angels, would be found among the 
sons of men ? The best things we do have somewhat in them 
to be pardoned. How then can we do anything meritorious, 
and worthy to be rewarded ?" — Richard Hooker. 1585. 



114 AEE YOU FORGIVEN. 

(Habak. i. 13.) We think the angels exalted 
beings, and far above ourselves ; but we are 
told in Scripture, " He charged His angels 
with folly." (Job iv. 18.) We admire the 
moon and stars as glorious and splendid bodies, 
but we read, " Behold, even to the moon, and 
it shineth not ; yea, the stars are not pure in 
His sight." (Job xxv. 5.) We talk of the 
heavens as the noblest and purest part of crea- 
tion ; but even of them it is written, " The 
heavens are not clean in His sight." (Job xv. 
14.) Reader, what is any of us but a misera- 
ble sinner in the sight of such a God as this? 

Surely we ought all to cease from proud 
thoughts about ourselves. We ought to lay 
our hands upon our mouths, and say with 
Abraham, " I am dust and ashes," and with 
Job. " I am vile," and with Isaiah, " We are all 
as an unclean thing," and with John, " If we 
say that we have no sin we deceive ourselves, 
and the truth is not in us." (Gen. xviii. 27 ; 
Job xl. 4; Isaiah Ixiv. 6; 1 John i. 9.) Where 
is the man or woman in the whole catalogue 
of the Book of life, that will ever be able to say 



ARE YOU FORGIVEN. 115 

more than this. " I obtained mercy ?" What 
is the glorious company of the apostles, the 
goodly fellowship of the prophets, the noble 
army of martyrs, — what are they all but par- 
doned sinners ? Surely there is but one con- 
clusion to be arrived at, — w T e are all great 
sinners, and we all need a great forgiveness.* 

See now what just cause I have to tell you 
that to know your need of forgiveness, is the 
first thing in true religion. Sin is a burden, 
and must be taken off. Sin is a defilement, 
and must be cleansed away. Sin is a mighty 
debt, and must be paid. Sin is a mountain 
standing between us and heaven, and must 
be removed. Happy is that mother's child 
amongst us that feels all this ! The first step 
towards heaven is to see clearly that we de- 
serve hell. There is but one alternative before us, 
— we must be forgiven, or be miserable forever. f 

* " Who is in this world, or ever hath been, which hath 
not need to say this prayer ; — to desire God to take from him 
his sins, to forgive him his trespasses ? Truly no saint in 
heaven, be they as holy as ever they will, but they have had 
need of this prayer ; they have had need to say, Lord for- 
give us our trespasses." — Bishop Latimer's Sermons. 1552. 

f " No man shall be in heaven but he that sees himself 



116 AEE YOU FOKGIVEN. 

See too how little many persons know of the 
design of Christianity, though they live in a 
Christian land. They fancy they are to go to 
church to learn their duty, and hear morality 
enforced, and for no other purpose. They for- 
get that the heathen philosophers could have 
told them as much as this. They forget that 
such men as Plato and Seneca gave instruc- 
tion, which ought to put to shame the Chris- 
tian liar, the Christian drunkard, and the 
Christian thief. They have yet to learn that 
the leading mark of Christianity is the remedy 
it provides for sin. This is the glory and ex- 
cellence of the Gospel. It meets man as he 
really is. It takes him as it finds him. It goes 
down to the level to which sin has brought him, 
and offers to raise him up. It tells him of a 
remedy equal to his disease — a great remedy 
for a great disease, — a great forgiveness for 
great sinners. 

Reader, I ask you to consider these things 

fully qualified for hell, as a fagot that is bound up for eter- 
nal burnings, unless mercy plucks the brand out of the fire." 
—Traill. 1690. 



ARE YOU FORGIVEN. 117 

well, if you have not considered them before. 
It is no light matter whether you know your 
soul's necessities or not. It is a matter of life 
and death. Try, I beseech you, to become 
acquainted with your own heart. Sit down 
and think quietly what you are in the sight of 
God. Bring together the thoughts and words 
and actions of any day in your life, and meas- 
ure them by the measure of God's word. 
Judge yourself honestly, that you may not be 
condemned at the last day. O that you may 
find out what you really are ! O that you may 
learn to pray Job's prayer, " Make me to know 
my transgression and my sin." (Job xiii. 23.) 
O that you may see this great truth, that until 
you are forgiven, your Christianity has done 
nothing for you at all. 

II. Let me point out to you, in the second 
place, the way of forgiveness. 

I ask your particular attention to this point, 
for none can be more important. Granting 
for a moment that you want pardon and for- 
giveness, what ought you to do? Whither 
will you go? Which way will you turn? 



118 AEE YOU FOEGIVEK. 

Everything hinges on the answer you give to 
this question. 

Will you turn to ministers, and put your 
trust in them ? They cannot give you pardon: 
they can only tell you where it is to be found. 
They can set before you the bread of life : but 
you yourself must eat it. They can show you 
the path of peace : but you yourself must walk 
into it. The Jewish priest had no power to 
cleanse the leper, but only to declare him 
cleansed. The Christian minister has no power 
to forgive sins, — he can only pronounce who 
they are that are forgiven.* 

Will you turn to sacraments and ordinances, 
and trust in them ? They cannot supply you 
with forgiveness, however diligently you may 
use them. By sacraments faith is confirmed 

* " Ministers cannot remit sin, authoritatively and effectu- 
ally, but only declaratively. They have a special office and 
authority to apply the promises of pardon to broken hearts. 
When a minister sees one humbled for sin, yet afraid God 
hath not pardoned him, and ready to be swallowed up of 
sorrow, in this case a minister for the easing of the man's 
conscience may, in the name of Christ, declare to him that 
he is pardoned. The minister doth not forgive sin by his 
own authority, but as a herald in Christ's name pronounceth 
the man's pardon." — Thomas Watson. 1660. 



ARE YOU FORGIVEN". 119 

and grace increased, in all who rightly use 
them. But they cannot justify the sinner. 
They cannot put away transgression. You 
may go to the Lord's table every Sunday in 
your life ; but unless you look far beyond the 
sign to the thing signified, you will after all die 
in your sins.* You may attend a daily service 
regularly, but if you think to establish a right- 
eousness of your own by it in the slightest 
degree, you are only getting further away from 
God every day. 

Will you trust in your own works and en- 
deavors, your virtues and your good deeds, 
your prayers and your alms ? They will 
never buy for you an entrance into heaven. 
They will never pay your debt to God. They 
are all imperfect in themselves, and only in- 

* " He that supposeth to make Christ his, and all Christ's 
merits, by the receiving of the outward sign and sacrament, 
and bringeth not Christ in his heart to the sacrament, he may- 
make himself assured rather of the devil and eternal death, 
as Judas and Cain did. For the sacrament maketh not the 
union, peace, and concord between God and us, but it 
ratifieth, establisheth, and confirmeth the love and peace 
that is between God and us before for His promise sake." — 
Bishop Hooper. 1545. 



120 AEE YOU FOEGIVEK. 

crease your guilt. There is no merit or 
worthiness in them at the very best. " When 
ye have done all those things which are com- 
manded you," says the Lord Jesus, "say we 
are unprofitable servants."* (Luke xvii. 10.) 

Will you trust in your own repentance and 
amendment ? You are very sorry for the past. 
You hope to do better for time to come. You 
hope God will be merciful. Alas ! if you lean 
on this, you have nothing beneath you but a 
broken reed. The judge does not pardon the 
thief because he is sorry for what he did. To- 
day's sorrow will not wipe off the score of 
yesterday's sins. It is not an ocean of tears 

* " What if I should fast my body into a skeleton, and 
pray my tongue and wear my ears to their very stumps ? 
What though I should water my couch continually with my 
tears, fasten my knees always to the earth by prayer, and 
fix my eyes constantly into heaven by meditation ? What 
though I should give everything I have to my poor dis- 
tressed neighbors, and spend each moment of my time in 
the immediate worshipping of my glorious Maker ? Would 
any of this be more than I am bound to do ? Should I not 
still be an unprofitable servant ? And if I can do more 
than is my duty unto God, how can I merit anything by 
what I do for Him ? How can He be indebted to me for 
my paying what I owe to Him ?" — Bishop Beveridge. 1*700. 



ARE YOU FORGIVEN. 121 

that will ever cleanse an uneasy conscience, 
and give it peace. 

Where then must a man go for pardon ? 
Where is forgiveness to be found ? Listen, 
Reader, and by God's help I will tell you. 
There is a way both sure and plain, and into 
that way I desire to guide every inquirer's 
feet. 

That way is, simply to trust in the Lord 
Jesus Christ, the Son of God, as your Saviour. 
It is to cast your soul, with all its sins, unre- 
servedly on Christ, — to cease completely from 
any dependence on your own woi^ks and 
doings, either in whole or in part, and to rest 
on no other work but Christ's work, no other 
righteousness but Christ's righteousness, no 
other merit but Christ's merit, as your ground 
of hope. Take this course, and you are a 
pardoned soul. " To Christ," says Peter, " give 
all the prophets witness, that through His name 
whosoever believeth in Him shall receive re- 
mission of sins." (Acts x. 43.) " Through 
this man," said Paul at Antioch, " is preached 
unto you the forgiveness of sins, and by Him 



122 AKE YOU FOEGIVEN. 

all that believe are justified from all things." 
(Acts xiii. 38.) " In Him," writes Paul to the 
Colossians, " we have redemption through His 
blood, even the forgiveness of sins." (Col. i. 4.) 

The Lord Jesus Christ, in great love and 
compassion, has made a full and complete 
satisfaction for sin, by His own death upon the 
cross. There He offered Himself as a sacri- 
fice for us, and allowed the wrath of God 
which we deserved, to fall on His own head. 
For our sins He gave Himself, suffered, and 
died, — the just for the unjust, the innocent for 
the guilty, — that He might deliver us from the 
curse of a broken law, and provide a complete 
pardon for all who are willing to receive it. 
And by so doing, as Isaiah says, He has borne 
our sins, — as John the Baptist says, He has 
taken away sin, — as Paul says, He has purged 
our sins, and put away sin, — and as Daniel 
says, He has made an end of sin, and finished 
transgression. (Isaiahliii.il. John i. 29. Heb. 
i. 3 ; ix. 26. Dan. ix. 24.) 

And now the Lord Jesus is sealed and ap- 
pointed by God the Father to be a Prince and 



ARE YOU FORGIVEN. 123 

a Saviour, to give remission of sins to all who 
will have it. The keys of death and hell are 
put in His hand. The government of the gate 
of heaven is laid on His shoulder. He Him- 
self is the door, and by Him all that enter in 
shall be saved. (Acts v. 31. Rev. i. 18. 
John x. 9.) 

Christ, in one word, has purchased a full for- 
giveness, if you and I are willing to receive it. 
He has done all, paid all, suffered all that was 
needful to reconcile us to God. He has provi- 
ded a garment of righteousness to clothe us. 
He has opened a fountain of living waters to 
cleanse us. He has removed every barrier be- 
tween us and God the Father, taken every 
obstacle out of the way, and made a road by 
which the vilest may return. All things are 
now ready, and the sinner has only to believe 
and be saved, to eat and be satisfied, to ask and 
receive, to wash and be clean. 

And faith, simple faith, is the only thing re- 
quired, in order that you and I may be forgiven. 
That we will come to Jesus as sinners with our 
sins, — trust in Him, — rest on Him, — lean on 



124 ARE YOU FOKGIVEN. 

Him,— confide in Him, — commit our souls to 
Him, — and forsaking all other hope, cleave 
only to Him, — this is all and everything that 
God asks for. Let a man only do this, and he 
shall be saved. His iniquities shall be found 
completely pardoned, and his transgressions en- 
tirely taken away. Every man that so trusts 
is wholly forgiven, and reckoned perfectly right- 
eous. His sins are clean gone, and his soul is 
justified in God's sight, however bad and guilty 
he may have been.* 

Faith is the only thing required, not hnowl- 

* "We must only trust to the merits of Christ, which 
satisfied the extreme jot and uttermost point of the law for us. 
And this His justice and perfection He imputeth and com- 
municateth with us by faith. Such as say that only faith 
justifieth not, because other virtues be present, they cannot 
tell what they say. Every man that will have his conscience 
appeased must mark these two things : How remission of 
sins is obtained, and wherefore it is obtained. Faith is the 
mean whereby it is obtained, and the cause wherefore it is 
received is the merits of Christ." — Bishop Hooper. 1547. 

" When we believe in Christ, it is like as if we had no sins. 
For He changeth with us : He taketh our sins and wickedness 
from us, and giveth unto us His holiness, righteousness, jus- 
tice, fulfilling of the law, and so consequently everlasting life. 
So that we be like as if we had done no sin at all ; for His 
righteousness standeth us in good stead, as though we of our 



ARE YOU FORGIVEN. 125 

edge. A man may be a poor unlearned sinner, 
and know little of books. But if he sees 
enough to find the foot of the cross, and trust 
in Jesus for pardon, I will engage he shall not 
miss heaven. To know Christ is the corner- 
stone of all religious knowledge. 

own selves had fulfilled the law to the uttermost." — Bishop 
Latimer. Sermons. 1549. 

" The spiritual hand whereby we receive the sweet offer of 
our Saviour is faith ; which in short is no other than an affiance 
in the Mediator. Receive peace, and be happy ; believe, and 
thou hast received." — Bishop Hall. 1640. 

" Justifying faith consists in these two things, in having a 
mind to know Chi'ist, and a will to rest upon Him. Whoso- 
ever sees so much excellency in Christ, that thereby he is 
drawn to embrace Him as the only Rock of salvation, that 
man truly believes to justification." — Archbishop Usher. 
1670. 

" This is the glad tidings, that we are made righteous by 
Christ. It is not a righteousness wrought by us, but given 
to us, and put upon us. This carnal reason- cannot compre- 
hend, and being proud rejects and argues against it. How 
can this thing be ? But faith closes with it and rejoices in it. 
Without either doing or suffering, the sinner is acquitted and 
justified, and stands as guiltless of breach as having fulfilled 
the whole law." — Archbishop Leighton. 1670. 

" Christ is now the righteousness of all them that truly do 
believe in Him. He for them paid their ransom by His death. 
He for them fulfilled the law in His life. So that now in 
Him and by Him every true Christian man may be called a 
fulfiller of the law ; forasmuch as that which their infirmity 



126 AKE YOU FOKGIVEN. 

Faith, I say, and not conversion. A man 
may have been walking in the broad way up 
to the very hour he first hears the Gospel. But 
if in that hearing he is awakened to feel his 
danger, and wants to be saved, let him come 
to Christ at once, and wait for nothing. That 
very coming is the beginning of conversion. 

Faith, I repeat, and not holiness. A man 
may feel all full of sin, and unworthy to be 
saved. But let him not tarry outside the ark 
till he is better. Let him come to Christ with- 
out delay, just as he is. Afterwards he shall 
be holy. 

Reader, I call upon you to let nothing move 
you from this strong ground, that faith in Christ 
is the only thing needed for your justification. 
Stand firm here, if you value your soul's peace. 
I see many walking in darkness, and having no 

lacked, Christ's justice has supplied." — Homily on Salvation 
written by Archbishop Cranmer. 1547. 

" This is the call of the Gospel, He that dares trust Christ 
with His soul upon the warrant of the Gospel shall be saved 
forever. The Lord tries people this way. We have no more 
to do but take pen in hand, and say Amen, Lord : it is a 
good bargain and a true word, and I will trust my soul on it. 
This is believing." — Traill. 1690. 



AEE YOU FORGIVEN. 127 

light, from confused notions as to what faith is. 
They hear that saving faith will work by love, 
and produce holiness ; and not finding all this 
at once in themselves, they think they have no 
faith at all. They forget that these things are 
the fruits of faith, and not faith itself, and that 
to doubt whether we have faith because we do 
not see them at once, is like doubting whether 
a tree be alive, because it does not bear fruit 
the very day we plant it in the ground. I 
charge you to settle it firmly in your mind that 
in the matter of your forgiveness and justifica- 
tion there is but one thing required, and that is 
simple faith in Christ.* 

* " St. Paul declareth nothing on the behalf of man con- 
cerning his justification, but only a true and lively faith; 
which nevertheless is the gift of God, and not man's only 
■work without God. And yet that faith doth not shut out re- 
pentance, hope, love, dread, and the fear of God, to be joined 
•with faith in every man that is justified : but it shutteth them 
out from the office of justifying." — Homily on Salvation, by 
Archbishop Cranmer. 1547. 

" How is the great benefit of justification applied to me, 
and apprehended by us ? This is done on our part by faith 
alone, and that not considered as a virtue inherent in us 
working by love ; but only as an instrument or hand of the 
soul stretched forth to lay hold on the Lord our righteous- 
ness." — Archbishop Usher. 1670. 



128 



AEE YOU FORGIVEN. 



I know well that the natural heart dislikes 
this doctrine. It runs counter to man's notions 
of religion. It leaves him no room to boast. 
Man's idea is to come to Christ with a price in 
his hand, — his regularity, his morality, his re- 
pentance, his goodness, — and so, as it were, to 
buy his pardon and justification. The Spirit's 
teaching is quite different ; it is first of all 
to believe. "Whosoever believeth shall not 
perish." (John iii. 16.) 

Some say, such doctrine cannot be right, be- 
cause it makes the way to heaven too easy. I 
fear that many such persons, if the truth were 
spoken, find it too hard. I believe in reality it 
is easier to give a fortune in building a cathe- 
dral like York Minster, or to go to the stake 
and be burned, than thoroughly to receive jus- 
tification by faith without the deeds of the law, 
and to enter heaven as a sinner saved by 
grace.* 

Some say this doctrine is foolishness and en- 

* " It is as truly as commonly said, that such as think be- 
lieving easy, know not what believing is." — Traill. 1690. 

" It is harder to believe in Christ for righteonsness than to 
keep all the commandments, because keeping the command- 






AKE YOU FORGIVEN. 129 

thusiasm. I answer, this is just what was said 
of it 1800 years ago, and is a vain cavil now, 
as it was then. So far from the charge being 
true, a thousand facts can prove this doctrine 
to be from God. No doctrine certainly has 
produced such mighty effects in the world, as 
the simple proclamation of free forgiveness 
through faith in Christ. 

This is the glorious doctrine that was the 
strength of the apostles when they went forth 
to the Gentiles to preach a new religion. They 
began a few poor fishermen in a despised cor- 
ner of the earth. They turned the world up- 
side down. They changed the face of the Ro- 
man empire. They emptied the heathen tem- 
ples of their worshippers, and made the whole 
system of idolatry crumble away. And what 
was the weapon by which they did it all ? It 
was free forgiveness through faith in Jesus 
Christ. 

This is the doctrine which brought light into 

ments hath something in the heart of man agreeing with it, 
but so hath not the way of justification by faith." — Philip 
Henry's Sermons. 1690. 

9 



130 



AEE YOU FOKGIVEST. 



Europe 300 years ago, at the time of the blessed 
Reformation, and enabled one solitary monk, 
Martin Luther, to shake the whole church of 
Rome. Through his preaching and writing 
the scales fell from men's eyes, and the chains 
of their souls were loosed. And what was the 
lever that gave him his power ? It was free 
forgiveness through faith in Jesus Christ. 

This is the doctrine that revived our own 
church in the middle of the last century, when 
Whiteneld and the Wesleys, and Romaine, and 
Berridge, and Venn broke the wretched spirit 
of slumber that had come over the land, and 
roused men to think. They began a mighty 
work, with little seeming likelihood of success. 
They began, few in number, with small en- 
couragement from the rich and great. But 
they prospered. And why ? — Because they 
preached free forgiveness through faith in 
Christ. 

This is the doctrine which is the true strength 
of any church on earth at this day. It is not 
orders, or endowments, or liturgies, or learning, 
that will keep a church alive. Let free for- 



ARE YOU FORGIVEN. 131 

giveness through Christ be faithfully proclaim- 
ed in her pulpits, and the gates of hell shall not 
prevail against her. Let it be buried or kept 
back, and her candlestick shall soon be taken 
away. When the Saracens invaded the lands 
where Jerome and Athanasius, Cyprian and 
Augustine, once wrote and preached, they found 
bishops and liturgies, I make no question. But 
I fear they found no preaching of free forgive- 
ness of sins, and so they swept the churches of 
those lands clean away. They were a body 
without a vital principle, and therefore they 
fell. Let us never forget the brightest days of 
a church are those when Christ crucified is 
most exalted. The dens and caves of the earth 
where the early Christians met to hear of the 
love of Jesus, were more full of glory and 
beauty in God's sight than ever was St, Peter's 
at Rome. The meanest barn at this day, where 
the true way of pardon is offered to sinners, is 
a far more honorable place than is the cathe- 
dral of Cologne or Milan. A church is only 
useful so far as she exalts free forgiveness 
through Christ. 



132 ARE YOU FORGIVEN. 

This is the doctrine which of all others is 
the mightiest engine for pulling down the 
kingdom of Satan. The Greenlanders were 
unmoved, so long as the Moravians told them 
of the creation and the fall of man ; but when 
they heard of redeeming love, their frozen 
hearts melted like snow in spring. Preach sal- 
vation by the sacraments, exalt the church 
above Christ, and keep back the doctrine of the 
atonement, and the devil cares little, — his goods 
are at peace. But preach a full Christ and a 
free pardon, and then Satan will have great 
wrath, for he knows he has but a short time. 
John Berridge said he went on preaching mo- 
rality and nothing else, till he found there was 
not a moral man in his parish. But when he 
changed his plan, and began to preach the love 
of Christ to sinners, then there was a stirring 
of the dry bones, and a mighty turning to God. 

This is the only doctrine which will ever 
bring peace to an uneasy conscience, and rest 
to a troubled soul. A man may get on pretty 
well without it so long as he is asleep about 
his spiritual condition. But once let him 



ARE YOU FORGIVEN-. 133 

awake from his slumber, and nothing will ever 
calm him but the blood of atonement and the 
peace of Christ.* How any one can under- 
take to be a minister of religion without a firm 
grasp of this doctrine, I never can understand. 
For myself, I can only say, I should think my 
office a most painful one, if I had not the mes- 
sage of free forgiveness to convey. It would 
be miserable work indeed to visit the sick and 
dying, if I could not say, " Behold the Lamb 
of God, — believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and 
thou shalt be saved." The right hand of a 
Christian minister iP the doctrine of free for- 
giveness through faith in Christ. Give us this 
doctrine, and we have power : we will never 
despair of doing good to men's souls. Take 

* " Man's conscience can never rest nor be at peace, until 
it be settled in the full persuasion of remission of sins in the 
death and resurrection of Jesus Christ; whereby God re- 
ceiveth us into His favor, and is at one with us through Him." 
— Archbishop Sandys. 1535. 

See also a most interesting account of the effect produced 
on Luther, when in great distress of soul, by the words, " I 
believe in the forgiveness of sins," repeated to him by an 
aged monk. — JD'Aubigne's History of the Reformation. One 
vol. edition, page 68. 



134 AEE YOU FORGIVEN. 

away this doctrine, and we are weak as water. 
We may read the prayers, and go through a 
round of forms, but we are like Samson with 
his hair shorn, our strength is gone. Souls 
will not be benefited by us, and good will not 
be done. 

Reader, I commend the things I have been 
saying to your notice. I am not ashamed of 
free pardon through faith in Christ, whatever 
some may say against the doctrine. I am not 
ashamed of it, for its fruits speak for them- 
selves. It has done things that no other doc- 
trine can do. It has effccted moral changes 
which laws and punishments have failed to 
work, — which magistrates and policemen have 
labored after in vain, which mechanics' insti- 
tutes and secular knowledge have proved 
utterly powerless to produce. Just as the 
fiercest lunatics in Bethlehem Hospital became 
suddenly gentle when kindly treated, even so 
the worst and most hardened sinners have often 
become as little children, when told of Jesus 
loving them and willing to forgive. I can well 
understand Paul ending his Epistle to the erring 



ARE YOU FORGIVEN. 135 

Galatians with that solemn burst of feeling, 
" God forbid that I should glory save in the 
cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. (Gal. vi. 14.) 
The crown has indeed fallen from a Christian's 
head, when he leaves the doctrine of justifica- 
tion by faith. 

See now how you should ask yourself 
whether you have really received the truth 
which I have been dwelling on, and know it by 
experience. Jesus, and faith in Him, is the 
only way to the Father. He that thinks to 
climb into paradise by some other road, will 
find himself fearfully mistaken. Other foun- 
dation can no man lay for an immortal soul 
than that of which I have been feebly speak- 
ing. He that ventures himself here is safe. 
He that is off this rock has got no standing 
ground at all. 

See too how you should seriously consider 
what kind of a ministry you are in the habit 
of attending, supposing you have a choice. 
You have reason indeed to be careful. It is 
not all the same where you go, whatever peo- 
ple may say. There are many places of wor- 



136 ARE YOU FORGIVEN. 

ship, I fear, where you might look long for 
Christ crucified, and never find Him. He is 
buried under outward ceremonies, — thrust be- 
hind the baptismal font, — lost sight of under the 
shadow of the church. " They have taken 
away my Lord, and I know not where they 
have laid Him." Take heed where you settle 
yourself. Try all by this single test, " Is Jesus 
and free forgiveness proclaimed here ?" There 
may be comfortable pews — there may be good 
singing, — there may be learned sermons. But 
if Christ's Gospel is not the sun and centre of 
the whole place, do not continue there. Say 
rather with Isaac, " Here is the wood and the 
fire, but where is the Lamb ?" Be very sure 
this is not the place for your soul. 

Reader, remember these things, and you will 
be wise. I have set before you the way of life. 
I have told you where pardon is to be found. 
O beware lest an offer being made you of free 
forgiveness, any of you should come short of it. 

III. Let me, in the third place, encourage 
all who wish to he forgiven. 

I dare be sure this paper will be read by 



ARE YOU FORGIVEN. 137 

some one who feels he is not yet. a forgiven 
soul. My heart's desire and prayer is, that such 
an one may seek his pardon at once. And I 
would fain help him forward, by showing him 
the kind of forgiveness offered to him, and the 
glorious privileges within his reach. 

Listen to me then, while I try to exhibit to 
you the treasures of Gospel forgiveness. I 
cannot describe its fulness as I ought. Its 
riches are indeed unsearchable. (Ephes. iii. 8.) 
But if you turn away from it, you shall not be 
able to say in the day of judgment, you did not 
at all know what it was. 

Consider then for one thing, that the forgive- 
ness set before you is a great and broad for- 
giveness. Hear what the Prince of Peace 
Himself declares, " All sins shall be forgiven 
unto the sons of men, and blasphemies where- 
with-soever they shall blaspheme." (Mark iii. 
28.) " Though your sins be as scarlet, they 
shall become white as snow ; though they be 
red like crimson, they shall be as wool." 
(Isaiah i. 18.) Yes! though your trespasses be 
more in number than the hairs of your head, 



138 AKE YOU FORGIVEN. 

the stars in heaven, the leaves of the forest, the 
blades of grass, the grains of sand on the sea- 
shore, still they can be all pardoned. As the 
waters of Noah's flood covered over and hid 
the tops of the highest hills, so can the blood 
of Jesus cover over and hide your mightiest 
sins. "His blood cleanseth from all sin." (1 
John i. 7.) Though to you they seem written 
with the point of a diamond, they can all be 
effaced from the book of God's remembrance 
by that precious blood. Paul names a long list 
of abominations which the Corinthians had 
committed, and then says, "such were some of 
you, but ye are washed." (1 Cor. vi. 11.) 

Furthermore, it is a full and complete for- 
giveness. It is not like David's pardon to Ab- 
salom, — a permission to return home, but not 
a full restoration to favor. (2 Sam. xiv. 24.) It 
is not, as some fancy, a mere letting off, and 
letting alone. It is a pardon so complete, that 
he who has it is reckoned as righteous as if he 
had never sinned at all.* His iniquities are 

* " It is not therefore, O soul, a mere negative mercy that 
G-od intends thee in the pardon of thy sins : it is not merely 



ARE YOU FORGIVEN. 139 

blotted out. They are removed from him as 
far as the east and the west. (Psalm ciii. 12.) 
There remains no condemnation for him. The 
Father sees him joined to Christ, and is well 
pleased. The Son beholds him clothed with 
His own righteousness, and says, " Thou art 
all fair, there is no spot in thee." (Cant. iv. 7.) 
Blessed be God that it is so. I verily believe 
if the best of us all had only one blot left for 
himself to wipe out, he would miss eternal life. 
If the holiest child of Adam were in heaven 
all but his litle finger, and to get in depended 
on himself, I am sure he would never enter the 
kingdom. If Noah, Daniel, and Job, had had 
but one day's sins to wash away, they would 
never have been saved. Praised be God that 
in the matter of our pardon there is nothing 
left for man to do. Jesus does all, and man 



the removing of the curse and wrath which thy sins have de- 
served, though that alone can never be sufficiently admired. 
But the same hand that plucks thee out of hell by pardoning, 
grace and mercy, lifts thee up to heaven by what it gives 
thee together with thy pardon, even a right and title to 
the glorious inheritance of saints above." — Bishop Hopkins. 
1680. 



140 AEE YOU FOE GIVEN". 

has only to hold out an empty hand and re- 
ceive. 

Furthermore, it is a, free and unconditional 
forgiveness. It is not burdened with an " if," 
like Solomon's pardon to Adonijah, " If he 
will show himself a worthy man." (1 Kings i. 
52.) Nor yet are you obliged to carry a price 
in your hand, or bring a character with you to 
prove yourself deserving of mercy. Jesus 
requires but one character, and that is, that 
you should feel yourself a sinful bad man. He 
invites you to " buy wine - and milk without 
money and without price," and declares, " Who- 
soever will, let him take the water of life 
freely." (Isaiah Iv. 1. Rev. xxii. 17.) Like 
David in the cave of Adullam, He receives 
"every one that feels in distress and a debtor," 
and rejects none. (1 Sam. xxii. 2.) Are you 
a sinner? Do you want a Saviour? Then 
come to Jesus, just as you are, and your soul 
shall live. 

Again, it is an offered forgiveness. I have 
read of earthly kings who knew not how to 
show mercy, — of Henry the Eighth of Eng- 



AEE YOU FORGIVEN. 141 

land, who spared neither man nor woman ; of 
James the Fifth of Scotland, who would never 
show favor to a Douglas. The King of kings 
is not like them. He calls on man to come to 
Him and be pardoned. " Unto you, O men, I call, 
and my voice is to the sons of men." (Prov. 
viii. 4.) " Ho, every one that thirsteth, come 
ye to the waters." (Isaiah lv. 1.) "If any 
man thirst, let him come unto me and drink." 
(John vii. 37.) " Come unto me, all ye that 
labor and are heavy-laden,, and I will give you 
rest." (Matt. xi. 28.) O Reader, it ought to 
be a great comfort to you and me to hear of 
any pardon at all ; but to hear Jesus Himself 
inviting us, to see Jesus Himself holding out 
his hand to us, — the Saviour seeking the sin- 
ner before the sinner seeks the Saviour, — 
this is encouragement, this is strong consola- 
tion indeed. 

Again, it is a willing forgiveness. I have 
heard of pardons granted in reply to long 
entreaty, and wrung out by much importunity. 
King Edward the Third of England would 
not spare the citizens of Calais till they came 



142 AEE YOU FORGIVEN. 

to him with halters round their necks, and 
his own queen interceded for them on her 
knees. But Jesus is " good and ready to for- 
give." (Psalm lxxxvi. 5.) He delighteth in 
mercy. (Micah vii. 18.) Judgment is his 
strange work. He is not willing that any 
should perish. (2 Peter iii. 9.) He would fain 
have all men saved, and come to the knowledge 
of the truth. (1 Tim. ii. 4.) He wept over 
unbelieving Jerusalem. " As I live," He says, 
"I have no pleasure in the death of the 
wicked. Turn ye, turn ye, from your evil 
ways: why will ye die?" (Ezek. xxxiii. 11.) 
Ah ! Reader, you and I may well come boldly 
to the throne of grace. He who sits there is 
far more willing and ready to give mercy than 
you and I to receive it. 

Beside this, it is a tried forgiveness. Thou- 
sands and tens of thousands have sought for 
pardon at the mercy-seat of Christ, and not 
one has ever returned to say that he sought 
in vain. Sinners of every name and nation, 
— sinners of every sort and description, have 
knocked at the door of the fold, and none 



AKE YOU FORGIVEN. 143 

have ever been refused admission. Zacchseus 
the extortioner, Magdalen the harlot, Saul the 
persecutor, Peter the denier of his Lord, the 
Jews who crucified the Prince of life, the idola- 
trous Athenians, the adulterous Corinthians, 
the ignorant Africans, the blood-thirsty New 
Zealanders, — all have ventured their souls on 
Christ's promises of pardon, and none have 
ever found them fail. Ah ! Reader, if the way 
I set before you were a new and untravelled 
way, you might well feel faint-hearted. But 
it is not so. It is an old. path. It is a path 
worn by the feet of many pilgrims, and a path 
in which the footsteps are all one way. The 
treasury of Christ's mercies has never been 
found empty. The well of living waters has 
never proved dry. 

Beside this, it is & present forgiveness. All 
that believe in Jesus are at once justified 
from all things. (Acts xiii. 38.) The very 
day the younger son returned to his father's 
house, he was clothed with the best robe, had 
the ring put on his hand and the shoes on 
his feet. (Luke xv.) The very day Zacchaeus 



144 ARE YOU FORGIVEN. 

received Jesus he heard those comfortable 
words, " This day is salvation come to this 
house." (Luke xix. 9.) The very day that 
David said, " I have sinned against the Lord," 
he was told by Nathan, " The Lord also hath 
put away thy sin." (2 Sam. xii. 13.) The very 
day you first flee to Christ your sins are all 
removed. Your pardon is not a thing far 
away, to be obtained only by hard work, and 
after many years. It is nigh at hand. It is 
close to you, within your reach, all ready to 
be bestowed. Believe, and that very moment 
it is your own. " He that believeth is not 
condemned." (John iii. 18.) It is not said, 
" He shall not be," or " will not be," but " is 
not" From the time of his believing condem- 
nation is gone. " He that believeth hath ever- 
lasting life." (John iii. 36.) It is not said, " He 
shall have," or " will have," it is " hath." It is 
his own as surely as if he was in heaven, 
though not so evidently so to his own eyes. 
Ah! Reader, you must not think forgiveness 
will be nearer to a believer in the day of 
judgment than it was in the hour he first 



AEE YOU FORGIVEN. 



145 



believed. His complete salvation from the 
power of sin is every year nearer and nearer 
to him, but as to his forgiveness and justifi- 
cation, it is a finished work from the very 
minute he first commits himself to Christ. 

Last, and best of all, it is an everlasting 
forgiveness. It is not like Shimei's pardon, a 
pardon that may some time be revoked and 
taken away. (1 Kings ii. 9.) Once justified, 
you are justified forever. Once written down 
in the book of life, your name shall never 
be blotted out. The sins of God's children are 
said to be cast into the depths of the sea, — to 
be sought for and not found, — to be remember- 
ed no more, — to be cast behind God's back. 
(Mic. vii. 19. Jerem. 1. 60, xxxi. 34. Isaiah 
xxxviii. 17.) Some people fancy they may be 
justified one year, and condemned another, — 
children of adoption at one time, and strangers 
by-and-by, — heirs of the kingdom in the begin- 
ning of their days, and yet servants of the 
devil in their end. I cannot find this in the 
Bible ; — as the New Zealander told the Romish 
priest, I do not see it. in the book. It seems to 
10 



146 AEE YOU FOKGIVEN. 



me to overturn the good news of the Gospel 
altogether, and to tear up its comforts by the 
roots. I believe the salvation Jesus offers is 
an everlasting salvation, and a pardon once 
sealed with His blood shall never be reversed. 

Reader, I have set before you the nature of 
the forgiveness offered to you. I have told 
you but a little of it, for my words are weaker 
than my will. The half of it remains untold. 
The greatness of it is far more than any report 
of mine.* But I think I have said enough to 
show you it is worth the seeking, and I can 
wish you nothing better than that you may 
strive to make it your own. 

Do you call it nothing to look forward to 
death without fear, and to judgment without 
doubtings, and to eternity without a sinking 
heart? Do you call it nothing to feel the world 
slipping from your grasp, and to see the grave 

* Who is a God like unto thee ? None can pardon as thou 
dost. None can pardon so freely, — none so fully, — none so 
continually, — none so eternally, — none so indifferently, — 
whether in respect of sinners or sin, as thou dost. It is all 
one to thee what the sins are, and all one to thee whose the 
sins are, so they come to ask thy pardon." — Joseph Caryl. 
1670. 



ARE YOU FOEGIVEN. 147 

getting ready for you, and the valley of the 
shadow of death opening before your eyes, and 
yet not be afraid ? Do you call it nothing to be 
able to think of the great day of account, the 
throne, the books, the Judge, the assembled 
worlds, the revealing of secrets, the final sen- 
tence, and yet to feel, " I am safe ?" This is the 
portion, and this the privilege of a forgiven soul. 

Such an one is on a rock. When the rain 
of God's wrath descends, and the floods come, 
and the winds blow, his feet shall not slide, his 
habitation shall be sure. 

Such an one is in an ark. When the last 
fiery deluge is sweeping over all things on the 
surface of the earth, it shall not come nigh 
him. He shall be caught up and borne securly 
above it all. 

Such an one is in a hiding place. When 
God arises to judge terribly the earth, and men 
are calling to rocks and mountains to fall upon 
them and cover them, the everlasting arms 
shall be thrown around him, and the storm 
shall pass over his head. He shall abide under 
the shadow of the Almighty. 



148 AKE YOU FORGIVEN. 

Such an one is in a city of refuge. The 
accuser of the brethren can lay no charge 
against him. The law cannot condemn him. 
There is a wall between him and the avenger 
of blood. The enemies of his soul cannot hurt 
him. He is in a secure sanctuary. 

Such an one is rich. He has treasure in 
heaven which cannot be affected by worldly 
changes, compared to which Peru and Califor- 
nia are nothing at all. He need not envy the 
richest merchants and bankers. He has a por- 
tion that will endure when bank-notes and sov- 
ereigns are worthless things. He can say like 
the Spanish ambassador, when shown the 
treasury at Venice, "My master's treasury 
has no bottom."* He has Christ. 

Such an one is insured. He is ready for 
anything that may happen. Nothing can harm 
him. Banks may break, and governments may 
be overturned. Famine and pestilence may 
rage around him. Sickness and sorrow may 

* This was said boastfully, at a time when the gold mines 
of Mexico and South America formed part of the possessions 
of the Spanish crown. 



ARE YOU FORGIVEN. 149 

visit his own fireside. But still he is ready, 
for all, — ready for health, ready for disease, — 
ready for tears, ready for joy, — ready for pov- 
erty, ready for plenty, — ready for life, ready for 
death. He has Christ. He is a pardoned soul. 
" Blessed" indeed " is he whose transgression is 
forgiven, and whose sin is covered;" ■■$ ^J^alm 

XXXh. I.)* • :;$' . I, 

* " If we have Christ, then have we with Stbi .0$$ fry. Him, 
all good things whatsoever we can in our hearts. ,^lsh tor de- 
sire, — as victory over death, sin, and hell ; we have the favor 
of God, peace with Him, holiness, wisdom, justice, power, life, 
and redemption ; we have by Him perpetual health, wealth, 
joy, and bliss everlasting." — Church of England Homily of 
the fear of death. 1547. 

" He that hath got a view of Christ, and reads his own par- 
don in Christ's sufferings, can rejoice in this in the midst of 
all other sufferings, and look on death without apprehension, 
yea with gladness, — for the sting is out. Christ hath made 
all pleasant to him by this one thing, that He suffered once 
for sins. Christ hath perfumed the cross and the grave, and 
made all sweet. The pardoned man finds himself light, 
skips, and leaps, and through Christ strengthening him can 
encounter any troubles, yea he can submit patiently to the 
Lord in any correction. Thou hast forgiven my sin, there- 
fore deal with me as thou wilt : all is well." — Archbishop 
Leighton. 1670. 

" A believer is a rich man and an honorable, even if he 
be a beggar on the dunghilL Christ cannot be poor, and 
he is a fellow -heir with Christ." — Rutherford's Christ Dying. 
1647. 



150 AEE YOU FOEGIVEN. 

Reader, how will you escape if you neglect 
so great salvation ? Why should you not lay 
hold on it at once, and say, Pardon me, even 
me also, O my Saviour. What would you have, 
if the way I have set before you does not sat- 
isfy you ? Come while the door is open. Ask, 
and you shall receive. 

IV. Let me give you, in the last place, some 
marks of having found forgiveness. 

I dare not leave out this point. Too many 
persons presume they are forgiven, who have 
no evidences to show. Not a few cannot think 
it possible they are forgiven, who are plainly 
in the way to heaven, though they may not see 
it themselves. I would fain raise hope in some, 
and self-inquiry in others ; and to do this, let 
me tell you the leading marks of a forgiven 
soul. 

Forgiven souls hate sin. They can enter 
most fully into the words of our Communion 
Service, " the remembrance of sin is grievous 
unto them, and the burden of it is intolerable." 
It is the serpent which bit them : how should 
they not shrink from it with horror ? It is the 



AEE YOU FOKGIVEN. 151 

poison which brought them to the brink of eter- 
nal death : how should they not loathe it with 
a Godly disgust ? It is the Egyptian enemy 
which kept them in hard bondage : how should 
not the very memory of it be bitter to their 
hearts ? It is the disease of which they carry 
the marks and scars about them, and from 
which they scarcely recovered : well may they 
dread it, flee from it, and long to be delivered 
altogether from its power. Remember how 
the woman in Simon's house wept over the feet 
of Jesus. (Luke vii. 38.) Remember how the 
Ephesians publicly burned their wicked books. 
(Acts xix. 19.) Remember how Paul mourned 
over his youthful transgressions, " I am not 
meet to be called an apostle, because I perse- 
cuted the church of God." (I Cor. xv. 9.) Ah ! 
Reader, if you and sin are friends, you and 
God are not yet reconciled. You are not meet 
for heaven, for one main part of heaven's ex- 
cellence is the absence of all sin. # 



* " If thou have no mind to leave sin, and sin grieveth thee 
not, and thou art content to go forward in the same, and thou 
delightest in it, and hatest it not, neither feelest what sin is ; 



152 AEE YOU FORGIVEN". 

Forgiven souls love Christ. This is that one 
thing they can say, if they dare say nothing 
else, — they do love Christ. His person, His 
office, His work, His name, His cross, His blood, 
His words, His example, His day, His ordi- 
nances, all, all are precious to forgiven souls. 
The ministry which exalts Him most, is that 
which they enjoy most. The Books which 
are most full of Him, are most pleasant to 
their minds. The people on earth they feel 
most drawn to, are those in whom they see 
something of Christ. His name is as ointment 
poured forth, and comes with a peculiar 
sweetness to their ears. (Cant. i. 3.) They 
would tell you they cannot help feeling as they 

— when thou art in such a case, then thou hast no faith, and 
therefore art like to perish everlastingly. v — Bishop Latimer, 
154T. 

" The real Christian is an avowed enemy of sin. Shall I 
ever be friends with that, says he, which killed my Lord ? 
No, but I will even kill it, and do it by applying His death. 
The true penitent is sworn to be the death of sin. He may 
be surprised by it, but there is no possibility of reconcile- 
ment between them. Thou that livest kindly and familiarly 
with sin, and either openly declarest thyself for it, or hast 
a secret love to it, where canst thou reap any comfort ? — 
Not from Christ's sufferings." — Archbishop Leighton. 16*70. 



ARE YOU FORGIVEN. 153 

do. He is their Redeemer, their Shepherd, 
their Physician, their King, their strong De- 
liverer, their gracious Guide, their hope, their 
joy, their all. Were it not for Him they would 
be of all men most miserable. They would as 
soon consent that you should take the sun out 
of the sky, as Christ out of their religion. 
Those people who talk of " the Lord," and 
" the almighty," and " the Deity," and so forth, 
but have not a word to say about Christ, are 
in anything but a right state of mind. What 
saith the Scripture ? " He that honoreth not 
the Son, honoreth not the Father which hath 
sent Him." (John v. 23.)* "If any man love 
not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be anathe- 
ma." (1 Cor. xvi. 22.) 

Forgiven souls are humble. They cannot 
forget that they owe all they have and hope for 
to free grace, and this keeps them lowly. They 
are brands plucked from the fire, — debtors who 
could not pay for themselves, — captives who 

* " He that lifts not up Christ above all hath no interest 
in Christ at all. He that sets not Christ above all is not a 
disciple of Christ."— Thomas Brooks. 1660. 



154 ARE YOU FORG-IVEN. 

must have have remained in prison forever, 
but for undeserved mercy, — wandering sheep 
who were ready to perish when the Shepherd 
found them, — and what right then have they 
to be proud ? I do not deny that there are 
proud saints. But this I do say, they are of all 
God's creatures the most inconsistent, — and 
of all God's children, the most likely to stum- 
ble and pierce themselves with many sorrows. 
Forgiveness more often produces the spirit of 
Jacob : — " I am not worthy of the least of all 
the mercies, and of all the truth which thou 
hast showed unto thy servant." (Gen. xxxii. 
10) ; and of Hezekiah, "I shall go softly all my 
years" (Isaiah xxxviii. 15) ; and of the apostle 
Paul, " I am less than the least of all saints, — 
chief of sinners." (Ephes. iii. 8; — 1 Tim. i. 15.) 
Reader, when you and I have nothing we can 
call our own but sin and weakness, there is 
surely no garment that becomes us so well as 
humility. 

' Forgiven souls are holy. Their chief de- 
sire is to please Him who has saved them, to 
do His will, to glorify Him in body and in 



AEE YOU FORGIVEN. 



155 



spirit, which are His. " What shall I render 
unto the Lord for all His benefits," is a leading 
principle in a pardoned heart. It was the re- 
membrance of Jesus showing mercy that made 
Paul in labors so abundant, and in doing good 
so unwearied. It was a sense of pardon that 
made Zacchaeus say, " The half of my goods 
I give to the poor, and if I have taken any- 
thing from any man by false accusation, I re- 
store him fourfold." (Luke xix. 8.) Reader, 
if you point out to me believers who are in a 
carnal, slothful state of soul, I reply in the 
words of Peter, "They have forgotten they 
were purged from their old sins." (2 Peter i. 9.) 
But if you show me a man deliberately living 
an unholy and licentious life, and yet boasting 
that his sins are forgiven, I answer he is under 
a ruinous delusion, and is not forgiven at all. 
I would not believe he is forgiven, if an angel 
from heaven affirmed it, and I charge you not 
to believe it too. Pardon of sin and love of 
sin are like oil and water, they will never go 
together. All that are 'washed in the blood 



156 AEE YOU FORGIVEN. 

of Christ, are also sanctified by the spirit of 
Christ.* 

Forgiven souls are forgiving. They do as 
they have been done by. They look over the 
offences of their brethren. They endeavor to 
walk in love, as Christ loved them, and gave 
Himself for them. They remember how God 
for Christ's sake forgave them, and endeavor 
to do the same toward their fellow-creatures. 
Has He forgiven them pounds, and shall they 
not forgive a few pence ? Doubtless in this, 
as in everything else, they come short ; — but 
this is their desire and their aim. A spiteful, 
quarrelsome Christian is a scandal to his pro- 
fession. It is very hard to believe that such an 
one has ever sat at the foot of the cross, has 
ever considered how he is praying against him- 
self every time he uses the Lord's prayer, and 
saying as it were, " Father, do not forgive me 

* " Are you in a -willing league with any known sin ? 
Yea, would you willingly, if you might be saved in that 
way, give up yourself to voluptuousness and ungodliness, 
and not at all desire to follow Jesus Christ in the way of 
holiness ? Then, truly I have not anything to say for your 
comfort." — Archbishop Leighton. 1610. 



AEE YOU FORGIVEN". 157 

my trespasses at all." But it is still harder to 
understand what such an one would do in 
heaven, if he got there. All ideas of heaven in 
which forgiveness has not a place, are castles 
in the air, and vain fancies. Forgiveness is 
the way by which every saved soul enters 
heaven. Forgiveness is the only title by which 
he remains in heaven. Forgiveness is the 
eternal subject of song with all the redeemed 
who inhabit heaven. Surely an unforgiving 
soul in heaven would find his heart completely 
out of tune. Surely we know nothing of 
Christ's love to us but the name of it, if w*e do 
not love our brethren. 

Reader, I lay these things before you. I 
know well there are great diversities in the 
degree of men's attainments in grace, and that 
saving faith in Christ is consistent with many 
imperfections. But still I do believe the marks 
I have just been naming will generally be found 
more or less in all forgiven souls. 

I cannot conceal from you these marks 
should raise in many minds great searchings 
of heart. I must be plain. I fear there are 



158 ARE YOU FORGIVEN. 

thousands of persons called Christians who 
know nothing of these marks. They are bap- 
tized. They keep their church. They would 
not on any account be reckoned infidels. But 
as to true repentance, and saving faith, union 
with Christ, and sanctification of the Spirit, 
they are names and words of which they know 
nothing at all. 

Now if this paper is read by such persons, it 
will probably either alarm them, or make them 
very angry. If it makes them angry, I shall 
be sorry. If it alarms them, I shall be glad. 
I want to alarm them. I want to awaken them 
from their present state. I want them to take 
in the great fact, that they are not yet forgiven, 
they have not peace with God, and are on the 
high-road to destruction. 

I must say this, for I see no alternative. It 
seems neither Christian faithfulness, nor Chris- 
tian charity, to keep it back. I see certain 
marks of pardoned souls laid down in Scrip- 
ture. I see an utter want of these marks in 
many men and women around me. How then 
can I avoid the conclusion that they are not 



ARE YOU FORGIVEN. 159 

yet forgiven ? And how shall I do the work 
of a faithful watchman, if I do not write it 
down plainly in so many words ? Where is 
the use of crying peace, peace, when there is 
no peace ? Where is the honesty of acting 
the part of a lying physician, and telling people 
there is no danger, when in reality they are 
fast drawing near to eternal death ? Surely 
the blood of souls would be required at my 
hands, if I wrote to you anything less than 
the truth. " If the trumpet give an uncertain 
sound, who shall prepare himself for the battle." 
Examine yourselves then, before this subject 
is forgotten. Consider of what sort your re- 
ligion is. Try it by the marks I have just set 
before you. I have endeavored to make them 
as broad and general as I can, for fear of caus- 
ing any heart to be sad that God has not made 
sad. If you know anything of them, though it 
be but a little, I am thankful, and entreat you 
to go forward. But if you know nothing of 
them in your own experience, let me say in all 
affection, I stand in doubt of you. I tremble 
for your soul. 



160 



ARE YOU FORG-IVEN. 



1. And now, before I conclude, let me put 
a home question to every one who reads this 
paper. It shall be short and plain, but it is all- 
important, — " Are you forgiven ?" 

I have told you all I can about forgiveness. 
Your need of forgiveness, — the way of forgive- 
ness, — the encouragements to seek forgiveness, 
— the marks of having found it, — all have been 
placed before you. Bring the whole subject 
before your own heart, and ask yourself, "Am 
I forgiven ? Either I am, or I am not. Which 
of the two is it ?" 

You believe, perhaps, there is forgiveness of 
sins. You believe that Christ died for sinners, 
and that He offers a pardon to the most un- 
godly. But are you forgiven yourself? Have 
you yourself laid hold on Christ by faith, 
and found peace through His blood ? What 
profit is there to you in forgiveness, except you 
get the benefit of it ? What does it profit the 
shipwrecked sailor, that the lifa-boat is along- 
side, if lie sticks by the wreck, and does not 
jump in and escape ? What does it avail the 
sick man, that the doctor offers him a medi- 



ARE YOU FORGIVEN. 161 

cine, if he only looks at it and does not swal- 
low it ? Except you lay hold of your own soul, 
you will be as surely lost as if there was no for- 
giveness at all.* 

Reader, if ever your sins are to be forgiven, 
it must be now, — now in this life, if ever in the 
life to come, — now in this world, if they are to 
be found blotted out when Jesus comes again. 
There must be actual business between you 

* " This sweet truth, that Christ died for sinners, and rose 
again for their justification, will not help thee, unless thou 
hope for thyself; yea, thou wilt remain in thy old skin, while 
using this blessed saying, as a cover for thy sins. Do not 
take this consolation ; for although He died for all and rose 
again, yet, to thee He is not risen, for thou hast not yet 
apprehended by faith His resurrection ; the words thou hast 
heard, but their power thou hast not experienced." — Martin 
Luther. 

" This is it which bringeth comfort unto the wounded 
soul and afflicted conscience, — not that Christ is a Saviour, 
for what am I the better for that ? — but a Saviour unto me. 
What is it to my belly that bread is prepared for others, un- 
less I be assured that my part is therein ? What is it to 
my soul that Christ died for others, unless I know that my 
sins are washed away in His blood ? It may be good for 
Moses, or Paul, or Peter, or James, or Stephen, but what is it 
unto me ? It is " mine" and " thine," as Luther did well 
teach; it is "my" God and "thy" Saviour, which doth 
satisfy thirsty consciences."— George Abbott, Archbishop of 
Canterbury. 1612. 

11 



162 AEE YOU FORGIVEN". 

and Christ. Your sins must be laid on Him 
by faith. His righteousness must be laid on 
you. His blood must be applied to your con- 
science, or else your sins will meet you in the 
day of judgment, and sink you into hell. Qh ! 
Reader, how can you trifle when such things 
are at stake? How can you be content to 
leave it uncertain whether you are forgiven ? 
Surely that a man can make his will, insure 
his life, give directions about his funeral, and 
yet leave his soul's affairs in uncertainty, is a 
wonderful thing indeed. 

2. Let me next give a solemn warning to 
every one who reads this paper, and knows in 
his conscience he is not forgiven. 

Your soul is in awful danger. You may die 
this year. And if you die as you are, you are 
lost forever. If you die without pardon, with- 
out pardon you will rise again at the last day. 
There is a sword over your head that hangs by 
a single hair. There is but a step between 
you and death. Oh ! I wonder that you can 
sleep quietly in your bed. 

You are not yet forgiven. Then what have 



ARE YOU FORGIVEN. 163 

you got by your religion ? You go to church. 
You have a Bible, you have a prayer-book, 
and perhaps a hymn-book. You hear sermons. 
You join in services. It may be you go to the 
Lord's table. But what have you really got 
after all ? Any hope ? Any peace ? Any 
joy ? Any comfort ? Nothing, literally noth- 
ing ! You have got nothing but mere tempo- 
ral things, if you are not a pardoned soul. 

You are not yet forgiven. But you trust 
God will be merciful. And why should He be 
merciful, if you will not seek Him in His own 
appointed way ? Merciful He doubtless is, 
wonderfully merciful to all who come to Him 
in the name of Jesus. But if you choose to 
despise His directions, and make a road to heav- 
en of your own, you will find to your cost 
there is no mercy for you. 

You are not yet forgiven. But you hope 
you shall be some day. I cannot away with 
that expression. It is like thrusting off the 
hand of conscience, and seizing it by the throat 
to stop its voice. Why are you more likely to 
seek forgiveness at a future time ? Why should 



164 ARE YOU FORGIVEN. 

you not seek it now ? Now is the time for 
gathering the bread of life. The day of the 
Lord is fast drawing near, and then no man 
can work. (Exod. xvi. 26.) The seventh 
trumpet will soon sound. The kingdoms of this 
world will soon become the kingdoms of our 
God and of His Christ. Woe to the house 
which is found without the scarlet line, and 
without the mark of blood upon the door! 
(Josh. ii. 18. Exod. xii. 13.) 

Well ! you may not feel your need of for- 
giveness now. But a time may come when 
you will want it. The Lord in mercy grant 
that it may not then be too late.* 

3. Let me next give an earnest invitation 
to all who read this paper, and desire forgive- 
ness. 

I know not what you are, or what you may 
have been in time past, but I say boldly, Come 

* " Those poor who are without a covering for their bodies 
are to be pitied ; but with what tears should we lament 
those, — how rich soever they are in this world, — who are 
without a covering for their souls, and so stand naked in the 
storm, and under the dreadful droppings of the wrath of 
G-od." — Joseph Caryl. 1650. 



ARE YOU FOBGIVEN. 165 

to Christ by faith, and you shall have a par- 
don. High or low, rich or poor, young men 
and maidens, old men and children, — you can- 
not be worse than Manasseh and Paul before 
conversion, than David and Peter after con- 
version, — come all of you to Christ, and you 
shall be freely forgiven. 

Think not for a moment that you have some 
great thing to do before you come to Christ. 
Such a notion is of the earth, earthy ; the Gos- 
pel bids you come just as you are. Man's idea 
is to make his peace with God by repentance, 
and then come to Christ at last : the Gospel way 
is to receive peace from Christ first of all, and 
begin with Him. Man's idea is to amend and 
turn over a new leaf, and so work his way up 
to reconciliation and friendship with God : the 
Gospel way is first to be friends with God 
through Christ, and then to work. Man's idea 
is to toil up the hill, and find life at the top : 
the Gospel way is first to live by faith in Christ, 
and then to do His will. 

And judge ye, every one, judge ye which is 
true Christianity ? Which is the good news ? 



166 AKE YOU FOKGIVEN. 

Which is the glad tidings ? First the fruits of 
the Spirit, and then peace ; or first peace, and 
then the fruit of the Spirit ? First sanctifica- 
tion, and then pardon ; or first pardon, and 
then sanctification ? First service, and then 
life ; or first life, and then service ? Reader, 
your own heart can well supply the answer. 

Come then, willing to receive, and not think- 
ing how much you can bring. Come, willing 
to take what Christ offers, and not fancying 
you can give anything in return. Come with 
your sins, and no other qualification but a 
hearty desire for pardon, and so sure as the 
Bible is true you shall be saved. 

You may tell me you are not worthy, you 
are not good enough, you are not elect. I an- 
swer, you are a sinner, and you w T ant to be 
saved, and what more do you want ? You are 
one of those whom Jesus came to save. Come 
to Him, and you shall have life.* Take with 
you words, and He will hear you graciously. 

* " The longer thou dost live without Christ, the more 
grains dost thou collect to make the mountain of thy sins 
higher." — Martin Luther. 



AEE YOU FOEGIVEN. 167 

Tell Him all your soul's necessities, and I know- 
He will give heed. Tell Him you have heard 
He receiveth sinners, and that you are such. 
Tell Him you have heard He has the keys of 
life in His hand, and entreat Him to let you in. 
Tell Him you come in dependence on His own 
promises, and ask Him to fulfil His word, and 
do as He has said. Do this in simplicity and 
sincerity, and, my soul for yours, you shall not 
ask in vain. Do this, and you shall find Him 
faithful and just to forgive your sins, and to 
cleanse you from all unrighteousness. 

4. Last of all, let me give a word of ex- 
hortation to all forgiven souls. 

You are forgiven. Then know the full ex- 
tent of your privileges, and learn to rejoice in 
the Lord. You and I are great sinners, but 
then we have a great Saviour. You and I 
have sinned sins that are past man's knowl- 
edge, but then we have the love of Christ, 
which passeth knowledge, to rest upon. You 
and I feel our hearts to be a bubbling fountain 
of evil, but then we have another fountain of 
greater power, even Christ's blood, to which 



168 ARE YOU F0BGIVE3T. 

we may daily resort. You and I have mighty 
enemies to contend with, but then the Captain 
of our salvation is mightier still, and is ever 
with us. Why should our hearts be troubled? 
Why should we be disquieted and cast down ? 
O men of little faith that we are ! Wherefore 
do we doubt?* 

Let us strive every year to grow in grace, 
and in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 
It is sad to be content with a little religion. It 
is honorable to covet the best gifts. We ought 
not to be satisfied with the same kind of hear- 
ing, and reading, and praying which satisfied 
us in years gone by. We ought to labor every 
year to throw more heart and reality into every- 
thing we do in our religion. To love Christ 
more intensely, — to abhor evil more thoroughly, 
— to cleave to what is good more closely, — to 
watch even our least ways more narrowly, — to 
declare very plainly that we seek a country, — 
to put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and be cloth- 

* " A great many believers walk upon the promises at 
G-od's call in the way to heaven even as a child upon weak 
ice, which they are afraid will crack under them, and leave 
them in the depth."— Traill. 1690. 



AEE YOU FOKGIVEN, 169 

ed with Him in every place and company, — 
to see more, — to feel more, — to know more,— 
to do more, — to pray more ; — these ought to be 
our aims and desires, every year we begin. 
Truly there is room for improvement in us all.* 
Let us try to do good to the souls of others 
more than we have done hitherto. Alas ! it is 
poor work indeed to be swallowed up in our 
own spiritual concerns, and taken up with our 
own spiritual ailments, and never to think of 
others. We forget that there is such a thing 
as religious selfishness. Let us count it a sor- 
rowful thing to go to heaven alone, and let us 
seek to draw companions with us. We ought 
never to forget that every man, woman, and 
child around us will soon be either in heaven 
or hell. Let us say to others as Moses did 
to Jethro, " Come with us, and we will do thee 
good." (Num. x. 29.) O it is indeed a true say- 
ing, " He that watereth shall be watered him- 

* " A soul clothed with Christ, stooping to any sinful de- 
light, or an ardent pursuit of anything earthly, though law- 
ful, doth wonderfully degrade itself. Methinks it is as a king's 
son in his princely apparel playing the scullion, sitting down 
to turn the spit." — Archbishop Leighton. 1670. 



170 ARE YOU FORGIVEN. 

self." (Prov. xi. 25.) The selfish Christian has 
little idea what he is missing. 

But above all, let us learn to live the life of 
faith in Jesus more than we have hitherto. 
Ever to be found by the fountain side, — ever 
to be eating Christ's body by faith, and drink- 
ing Christ's blood by faith, — ever to have be- 
fore our minds Christ dying for our sins, — 
Christ rising again for our justification, — 
Christ interceding for us at God's right hand, 
— Christ soon coming again to gather us to 
Himself, — this is the mark which we should 
have continually before our eyes. We may 
fall short, but let us aim high. Let us walk in 
the full .light of the Sun of righteousness, and 
then our graces will grow. Let us not be like 
trees on a north wall, weak and unfruitful, and 
cold. Let us rather strive to be like the sun- 
flower, and to follow the great fountain of light 
wherever He goes, and to see Him with open 
face. Oh for an eye more quick to discern 
His leadings ! Oh for an ear more ready to 
hear his voice !* 

* " Look not for any blessing out of Christ ; and in and by 



AKE YOU FORGIVEN. 171 

Let us say to everything in the world that 
interferes between ourselves and Jesus, " stand 
aside;' 5 and let us dread allowing ourselves in 
the least evil habits, lest insensibly they rise up 
like a mist and hide Him from our eyes. In His 
light alone shall we see light and feel warmth, 
and separate from Him we shall find the 
world a dark and cold wilderness. We sholud 
call to mind the request of the Athenian philoso- 
pher when the mightiest monarch on earth asked 
him what he desired most; "I have," said he, 
" but one request to make, and that is that you 
would stand from between me and the sun" 
Let this be the spirit in which you and I are 
found continually. Let us think lightly of the 
world's gifts. Let us sit calmly under its cares. 

and from Him look for all blessings. Let Him be thy life ; 
and wish not to live longer than thou art quickened by Him. 
Find Him thy wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, re- 
demption ; thy riches, thy strength, thy glory." — Bishop 
Hall. 1640. 

" All our work now is to be well acquainted with Christ 
in the way. Christ is both the way and the home. We must 
be walking in Him and travelling towards Him : and He is 
our guide and leader in the way. The soul and life of grace, 
is in living on Him by faith, and the happiness of heaven is 
in living with Him forever." — Traill. 1690. 



172 AEE YOU FORGIVEN. 



Let us care for nothing, if we may only ever 
see the King's face, if we may only ever abide 
in Christ 

And now, Reader, with every kind and Chris- 
tian wish for your soul's happiness, I commend 
you to the only wise God, our Saviour. He is 
able to keep you from falling, and to present 
you faultless before the presence of His glory 
with exceeding joy. 



%xt tp inlt|? 



HOLINESS, WITHOUT WHICH NO MAN SHALL SEE THE LORD.' 

Heb. xii. 14. 



Reader,— 

I offer you this text as a subject for 
self-inquiry ; and I invite you this day to think 
over the question before your eyes, " Are you 
holy?" 

It is a question that can never be out of 
season. The wise man tells us, " There is a 
time to weep, and a time to laugh, — a time to 
keep silence, and a time to speak ;" (Eccles. 
iii. 4, 7.) but there is no time, no, not a day, in 
which a man ought not to be holy. Reader, 
are you? 

It is a question that concerns all ranks and 
conditions of men. Some are rich, and some 
are poor, — some learned, and some unlearned, 
— some masters, and some servants ; — but there 



174 AEE YOU HOLY. 



is no rank or condition in life in which a man 
ought not to be holy. Reader, are you ? 

I ask to be heard to-day about this question. 
How stands the account between your souls 
and God ? Stay a little, I beseech you, while I 
reason with you about holiness. I believe I 
might have chosen a subject more popular and 
pleasant. I am sure I might have found one 
more easy to handle. But I feel deeply I could 
not have chosen one more important and more 
profitable to your soul. It is a solemn thing to 
hear God saying, " Without holiness no man 
can see the Lord." (Heb. xii. 14.) 

I shall endeavor, by God's help, to set before 
you what true holiness is, — the reasons why it 
is so needful, — and the way in which alone it 
can be attained. The Lord grant you may see 
and feel the importance of the subject, and lay 
down this paper, when you have read it, a wiser 
and a better man. 

1. First then let me try to show you what 
true holiness is, — what sort of persons are those 
whom God calls holy. 

A man may go great lengths and yet never 



AEE YOU HOLY. 175 

reach true holiness. It is not knowledge, — 
Balaam had that : nor great profession,— Judas 
Iscariot had that : nor doing many things, — 
Herod had that : nor zeal for certain matters 
in religion, — Jehu had that : nor morality and 
outward respectability of conduct, — the young 
ruler had that : nor taking pleasure in hearing 
preachers, — the Jews in Ezekiel's time had 
that : nor keeping company with godly people, 
— Joab and Gehazi and Demas Jiad that. Yet 
none of these were holy. These things alone 
are not holiness. A man may have any one 
of them, and yet never see the Lord. 

What then is true holiness ? It is a hard 
question to answer. I do not mean that I find 
a want of matter on the subject. But I fear 
lest I should give a defective view of holiness, 
and not say all that ought to be said ; or lest I 
should speak things about it that ought not to 
be spoken, and so do harm. Suffer me, how- 
ever, to say a few words that may help to clear 
your mind. Remember only, when I have said 
all, that my account is but a poor imperfect 
outline at the best. 



176 ABE YOU HOLY. 

Holiness is the habit of being of one mind 
with God, according as we find His mind de- 
scribed in Scripture. It is the habit of agree- 
ing in God's judgment, — hating what He hates, 
— -loving what He loves, — and measuring every- 
thing in this world by the standard of His 
word. He who most entirely agrees with God, 
he is the most holy man. 

A holy man will endeavor to shun every known 
sin, and to kegp every known commandment. 
He will have a decided bent of mind towards 
God,— -a hearty desire to do His will, — a greater 
fear of displeasing Him than of displeasing the, 
world, and a love to all His ways. He will 
feel what Paul felt when he said, "I delight in 
the law of God after the inward man," (Rom. 
vii. 22,) and what David felt when he said, " I 
esteem all thy precepts concerning all things 
to be right, and I hate every false way." (Psalm 
cxix. 128.) 

A holy man will strive to be like our Lord 
Jesus Christ ; -to have the mind that was in 
Him, and to be conformed to His image. It 
will be his aim to bear with and forgive others, 



AEE YOU HOLY. 



177 



even as Christ forgave us, — to be unselfish, even 
as Christ pleased not Himself, — to walk in 
love, even as Christ loved us, — to be lowly- 
minded and humble, even as Christ made Him- 
self of no reputation and humbled Himself. 
He will remember that Christ was a faithful 
witness for the truth, — that He came not to do 
His own will, — that it was His meat and drink 
to do His Father's will, — that He would stoop 
to any work in order to minister to others, — 
that He was meek and patient under undeserv- 
ed insults, — that He thought more of godly 
poor men than of kings, — that He was full of 
love and compassion to sinners, — that He was 
bold and uncompromising in denouncing sin, — 
that He sought not the praise of men, when 
He might have had it, — that He went about 
doing good, — that He was separate from worldly 
people, — that He continued instant in prayer, 
— that He would not let even His nearest rela- 
tions stand in His way when God's work was 
to be done. These things a holy man will try 
to remember. By them He will endeavor to 
shape his course in life. He will lay to heart 
12 



178 AEE YOU HOLY. 

the saying of John, " He that saith he abideth 
in Christ ought himself also so to walk, even as 
He walked;" (1 John ii. 6,) and the saying of 
Peter, that " Christ suffered for us, leaving us 
an example that ye should follow His steps." 
(1 Peter ii. 21.) Much time would be saved, 
and much sin prevented, if men would oftener 
ask themselves the question, " What would 
Christ have said and done, if He were in my 
place ?" 

But time would fail me if I were to mention 
all the things which go to make up holiness of 
character. Still I must ask you to bear with 
me while I name a few things which come up- 
permost, in my thoughts. The days we live in 
make me anxious that there should be no mis- 
take upon this subject. How can we know 
whether we are holy, unless we have a clear 
view of what holiness takes in ? 

A holy man will follow after meekness, long- 
suffering, gentleness, kind temper, government 
of his tongue. He will bear much, forbear 
much, overlook much, and be slow to talk of 
standing on his rights. You see a bright ex- 



AEE YOU HOLY. 179 



ample of this in the behavior of David when 
Shimei cursed him, — and of Moses when Aaron 
and Miriam spake against him. (2 Sam. xvi. 
10. Num. xii. 3.) 

A holy man will follow after temperance and 
self-denial. He will labor to mortify the de- 
sires of his body, — to crucify his flesh with its 
affections and lusts, — to curb his passions, — to 
restrain his carnal inclinations, lest at any time 
they break loose. Oh ! what a word is that 
of the Lord Jesus to the apostles, " Take heed 
to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be 
overcharged with surfeiting and drunkenness 
and cares of this life ;" (Luke xxi. 34,) and that 
of the apostle Paul, " I keep under my body 
and bring it into subjection, lest that by any 
means when I have preached to others, I my- 
self should be a cast-away." (1 Cor. ix. 27.) 

A holy man will follow after charity and 
brotherly kindness. He will endeavor to ob- 
serve the golden rule, of doing as he would 
have men do to him, and speaking as he would 
have men speak to him. He will be full of 
affection towards his brethren, — their bodies 



180 AEE YOU HOLY. 

their property, their characters, their feelings, 
their souls. '•' He that loveth another," says Paul, 
" hath fulfilled the law." (Rom. xiii. 8.) He 
will abhor all lying, slandering, backbiting, 
cheating, dishonesty, and unfair dealing, even 
in the least things. The shekel and cubit of 
the sanctuary were larger than those in com- 
mon use. Alas ! what condemning words are 
the thirteenth chapter of the first of Corinthi- 
ans, and the Sermon on the Mount, when laid 
alongside the conduct of many professing 
Christians. 

A holy man will follow after a spirit of mercy 
and benevolence towards others. He will not 
stand all the day idle. He will not be content 
with doing no harm, — he will try to do good. 
He will strive to be useful in his day and gen- 
eration, and to lessen the spiritual wants and 
misery around him, as far as he can. Such 
was Dorcas, full of good works and almsdeeds, 
which she did, — not merely purposed and 
talked about, but did. Such an one was Paul, 
"I will very gladly spend and be spent for you," 
he says, " though the more abundantly I love 



AEE YOU HOLY. 181 

you the less I be loved/' (2 Cor. xvi. 12, 
15.) 

A holy man will follow after parity of heart. 
He will dread all filthiness and uncleanness of 
spirit, and seek to avoid all things that might 
draw him into it. He knows his own heart is 
like tinder, and will diligently keep clear of the 
sparks of temptation. Who shall dare to talk 
of strength, when David can fall ? There is 
many a hint to be gleaned from the ceremonial 
law. Under it the man who only touched a 
bone, or a dead body, or a grave, or a diseased 
person, became at once unclean in the sight of 
God. And these things were emblems and 
figures. Few Christians are ever too watchful 
and too particular about this point. 

A holy man will follow after the fear of God. 
I do not mean the fear of a slave, who only 
works because he is afraid of punishment, and 
would be idle if he did not dread discovery. 
I mean rather the fear of a child, who wishes 
to live and move as if he was always before 
his father's face, because he loves him. What 
a noble example Nehemiah gives us of this ! 



182 AEE YOU HOLT. 



When he became governor at Jerusalem he 
might have been chargeable to the Jews, and 
required of them money for his support. The 
former governors had done so. There was 
none to blame him if he did. But he says, 
" So did not I, because of the fear of God." 
(Nehem. v. 15.) 

A holy man will follow after humility. He 
will desire in lowliness of mind to esteem all 
others better than himself. He will see more 
evil in his own heart than in any other in the 
w 7 orld. He will understand something of 
Abraham's feeling, when he says, " I am dust 
and ashes," and Jacob's, when he says, " I am 
less than the least of all thy mercies," and 
Job's, when he says, " I am vile," and Paul's, 
when he says, " I am chief of sinners." Holy 
Bradford, that faithful martyr of Christ, would 
sometimes finish his letters with these words, 
" A most miserable sinner, John Bradford." 
Good old Mr. Grimshaw's last words, when he 
lay on his death-bed, were these, " Here goes 
an unprofitable servant." 

A holy man will follow after faithfulness in 



AEE YOU HOLY. 183 

all the duties and relations of life. He will 
try, not merely to fill his place as well as others, 
but even better, because he has higher motives 
and more help than they. Those words of 
Paul should never be forgotten, "Whatever 
ye do, do it heartily as unto the Lord." — " Not 
slothful in business, fervent in spirit, serving 
the Lord." (Colos. iii. 23. Rom. xii. 11.) Holy 
persons should aim at doing everything well, 
and should be ashamed of allowing themselves 
to do anything ill, if they can help it. Like 
Daniel, they should seek to give no occasion 
against themselves, except as concerning the 
law of their God. They should strive to be 
good husbands, and good wives ; good parents 
and good children ; good masters and good ser- 
vants; good neighbors, good friends, good men 
of business, and good subjects. Holiness is 
worth little indeed, if it does not bear this kind 
of fruit. The Lord Jesus puts a searching 
question to His people, when he says, " What 
do ye more than others ?" (Matt. v. 47.) 

Last, but not least, a holy man will follow 
after spiritual mindedness. He will endeavor 



184 AEE YOU HOLY. 

to set his affections entirely on things above, 
and to hold things on earth with a very loose 
hand. He will not neglect the business of the 
life that now is, but the first place in his mind 
and thoughts will be given to the life to come. 
He will aim to live -like one whose treasure is 
in heaven, and to pass through this world like a 
stranger and pilgrim travelling to his home. To 
commune with God in prayer, in the Bible, and 
in the assembly of His people, — these things 
will be the holy man's chiefest enjoyments. 
He will value every thing, and place, and com- 
pany, just in proportion as it draws him nearer 
to God. He will enter into something of 
David's feeling, when he says, "My soul fol- 
loweth after thee." "Thou art my portion." 
(Psalm lxiii. 8. cxix. 57.) 

Such is the outline of holiness, which I set 
before you ; such is the character which those 
who are called holy follow after. 

But here let me say, I trust no man will mis- 
understand me. I am not without fear that my 
meaning will be mistaken, and the description 
I have given of holiness will discourage some 



ARE YOU HOLY. 185 

tender conscience. I would not willingly make 
one righteous heart sad, or throw a stumbling- 
block in any believer's way. 

I do not tell you for a moment that holiness 
shuts out the presence of indwelling sin. No! 
far from it. It is the greatest misery of a holy 
man that he carries about with him a body of 
death, — that often when he would do good evil 
is present with him, — that the old man is 
clogging all his movements, and. as it were, 
trying to draw him back at every step he takes. 
But it is the excellence of a holy man that he 
is not at peace with indwelling sin, as others 
are. He hates it, mourns over it, and longs to 
be free from its company. The work of sanc- 
tification within him is like the wall of Jeru- 
salem, the building goes forward, "even in 
troublous times." (Dan. ix. 25.) 

Neither do I tell you that holiness comes to 
ripeness and perfection all at once, or that these 
graces I have touched on must be found in full 
bloom and vigor before you can call a man 
holy. No! far from it. Sanctification is 
always a progressive work. Some men's 



186 AEE YOU HOLY. 

graces are in the blade, some in the ear, and 
some are like full corn in the ear. All must 
have a beginning. We must never despise the 
day of small things. And sanctification in the 
very best is an imperfect 'work. The history 
of the brightest saints that ever lived will 
contain many a " but" and " howbeit," and 
" notwithstanding," before you reach the end. 
The gold will never be without some dross, — 
the light will never shine without some clouds, 
until we reach the heavenly Jerusalem. The 
sun himself has spots upon his face. The holi- 
est men have many a blemish and defect when 
weighed in the balance of the sanctuary. 
Their life is a continued warfare with sin, the 
world, and the devil; and sometimes you will 
see them not overcoming, but overcome. The 
flesh is ever lusting against the spirit, and the 
spirit against the flesh, and in many things they 
offend all. 

But still, for all this, I am sure that to have 
such a character as I have faintly drawn, is 
the heart's desire and prayer of all true Chris- 
tians. They press towards it, if they do not 



AEE YOU HOLT. 187 

reach it. They may not attain to it, but they 
always aim at it. It is what they fain would 
be, if it is not what they are. 

And this I do mean to say, that true holiness 
is a great reality. It is something in a man 
that can be seen, and known, and marked, and 
felt, by all around him. It is light : if it exists 
it will show itself. It is salt : if it exists its 
savor will be perceived. It is a precious oint- 
ment : if it exists its presence cannot be hid. 

I am sure the little I know of my own heart 
makes me ready to make allowance for much 
backsliding, for much occasional deadness. I 
know a road may lead from one point to 
another, and yet have many a winding and 
turn ; and a man may be truly holy, and yet 
be drawn aside by many an infirmity. Gold is 
not the less gold because mingled with alloy, 
nor light the less light because faint and dim, 
nor grace the less grace because young and 
weak. But, after every allowance, I cannot 
see how any man deserves to be called holy, 
who wilfully allows himself in sins, and is not 
humbled and ashamed because of them. I 



188 AEE YOU HOLY. 

dare not call any one holy who makes a habit 
of wilfully neglecting known duties, and wil- 
fully doing what he knows God has commanded 
him not to do. Well, says Owen, " I do not 
understand how a man can be a true believer 
unto whom sin is not the greatest burden, sor- 
row, and trouble." 

Reader, such is holiness. Examine yourself 
whether you are acquainted with it. Prove 
your own self. 

II. Let me try, in the next place, to show 
you some reasons why holiness is so important. 

Can holiness save us ? Can holiness put 
away sin, — cover iniquities, — make satisfac- 
tion for transgressions, — pay our debt to God ? 
No ! not a whit. God forbid that I should ever 
tell you so. Holiness can do none of these 
things. The brightest saints are all unprofit- 
able servants. Our purest works are no better 
than filthy rags, when tried by the light of 
God's holy law. The white robe which Jesus 
offers, and faith puts on, must be our only 
righteousness, — the name of Christ our only 
confidence, — the Lamb's book of life our only 



AEE YOU HOLY. 189 

title to heaven. With all our holiness we are 
no better than sinners. Our best things are 
stained and tainted with imperfection. They 
are all more or less incomplete, — wrong in the 
motive, or defective in the performance. By 
the deeds of the law shall no child of Adam 
ever be justified. " By grace are ye saved 
through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is 
the gift of God : not of works, lest any man 
should boast." (Ephes. ii. 8, 9.) 

Why then is holiness so important ? Why 
does the apostle say, " without it no man shall 
see the Lord ?" Let me set before you a few 
reasons. 

For one thing we must be holy, because the 
voice of God in Scripture plainly commands 
it. The Lord Jesus says to His people, " Ex- 
cept your righteousness shall exceed the right- 
eousness of the Scribes and Pharisees, ye shall 
in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven." 
(Matt. v. 20.) " Be ye perfect, even as your 
Father which is in heaven is perfect." (Matt, 
v. 48.) Paul tells the Thessalonians, " This is 
the will of God, even your sanctification." 



190 ARE YOU HOLY. 

(1 Thess. iv. 3.) And Peter says, "As He 
which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in 
all manner of conversation. Because it is 
written, Be ye holy for I am holy/' (1 Peter 
i. 15, 16.) "In this/' says Leighton, "law and 
Gospel agree." 

We must be holy, because this is one grand 
end and purpose for which Christ came into 
the world. Paul writes to the Corinthians, 
" He died for all, that they which live should 
not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto 
Him which died for them and rose again." 
(2 Cor. v. 15.) And to the Ephesians, "Christ 
loved the Church and gave Himself for it, that 
He might sanctify and cleanse it." (Ephes. v. 
25, 26.) And to Titus, " He gave Himself for 
us, that He might redeem us from all iniquity, 
and purify unto Himself a peculiar people, zeal- 
ous of good works." (Titus ii. 14.) In short, 
to talk of men being saved from the guilt of 
sin, without being at the same time saved from 
its power in their hearts, is to contradict the 
witness of all Scripture. Are believers said to 
be elect ? — it is ".through sanctification of the 



ARE YOU HOLY. 191 

Spirit." Are they predestinated ? — it is " to 
be conformed to the image of God's Son." Are 
they chosen ? — it is " that they may be holy." 
Are they called ? — it is "with a holy calling." 
Are they afflicted ? — it is that they may be 
" partakers of holiness." Jesus is a complete 
Saviour. He does not merely take away the 
guilt of a believer's sin, He does more, — He 
breaks its power. 

We must be holy, because this is the only 
sound evidence that we have a saving faith 
in our Lord Jesus Christ. The twelfth Arti- 
cle of our Church says truly, " Although good 
works cannot put away our sins, and endure 
the severity of God's judgment ; yet are they 
pleasing and acceptable to God in Christ, and 
do spring out necessarily of a true and lively 
faith ; insomuch that by them a lively faith 
may be as evidently known as a tree discerned 
by its fruits." James warns us there is such a 
thing as a dead faith, — a faith which goes no 
further than the profession of the lips, and has 
no influence on a man's character. (Jam. ii. 
17.) True saving faith is a very different kind 



192 AEE YOU HOLY. 

of thing. True faith will always show itself 
by its fruits, it will sanctify, — it will work by 
love, — it will overcome the world, — it will 
purify the heart. I know that people are fond 
of talking about "death-bed evidences." They 
will rest on words spoken in the hours of fear 
and pain and weakness, as if they might take 
comfort in them about the friends they lose. 
But I am afraid in ninety-nine cases out of a 
hundred such evidences are not to be depended 
on. I suspect men generally die just as they 
have lived. The only safe evidence that you 
are one with Christ, and Christ in you, is a holy 
life. They that live unto the Lord are generally 
the only people who die in the Lord. If we 
would die the death of the righteous, let us not 
rest in slothful desires only, let us seek to live 
his life. It is a true saying of Traill's, " that 
man's state is naught, and his faith unsound, 
that finds not his hopes of glory purifying to his 
heart and life." 

We must be holy, because this is the only 
proof that we love the Lord Jesus Christ in 
sincerity. This is a point on which He has 



AKE YOU HOLY. 193 

spoken Himself most plainly in the fourteenth 
and fifteenth chapters of John. " If ye love 
me, keep my commandments." "He that hath 
my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is 
that loveth me." " If a man love me he will 
keep my saying." " Ye are my friends if ye 
do whatsoever I command you." Plainer words 
than these it would be difficult to find, and woe 
to those who neglect them ! Surely that man 
must be in an unhealthy state of soul who can 
think of all that Jesus suffered, and yet cling to 
those sins for which that suffering was under- 
gone. It was sin that wove the crown of 
thorns, — it was sin that pierced our Lord's 
hands, and feet, and side, — it was sin that 
brought Him to Gethsemane and Calvary, to 
the cross, and to the grave. Cold must our 
hearts be, if we do not hate sin, and labor to 
get rid of it, though we have to cut off the 
right hand, and pluck out the right eye in do- 
ing it. 

We must be holy, because this is the only 
sound evidence that we are true children of 
God. Children in this world are generally like 



194 ARE YOU HOLY. 



their parents. Some, doubtless, are more so, 
and some less, — but it is seldom indeed that 
you cannot trace a kind of family likeness. 
And it is much the same with the children of 
God. If men have no likeness to the Father 
in heaven, it is vain to talk of their being His 
sons. If we know nothing of holiness we may 
flatter ourselves as we please, but we have not 
the Holy Spirit dwelling in us, — we are dead, 
and must be brought to life again, — we are 
lost, and must be found. As many as are led 
by the Spirit of God, they, and they only, are 
the sons of God. (Rom. viii. 14.) We must 
show by our lives the family we belong to, — 
we must let men see by our good conversation 
that we are indeed the children of the Holy 
One, or our son-ship is but an empty name. 
" Say not/' says Gurnall, " that thou hast royal 
blood in thy veins, and art born of God, except 
thou canst prove thy pedigree by daring to be 
holy." 

We must be holy, because this is the most 
likely way to do good to others. We cannot 
live to ourselves only in this world. Our lives 



AEE YOU HOLY. 195 

will always be doing either good or harm to 
those who see them. They are a silent ser- 
mon which all can read. It is sad indeed when 
they are a sermon for the devil's cause, and 
not for God's. I believe that far more is done 
for Christ's kingdom by the holy living of be- 
lievers, than we are at all aware. There is a 
reality about such living which makes men 
feel, and obliges them to think. It carries a 
weight and influence with it which nothing else 
can give. It makes religion beautiful, and 
draws men to consider it like a light-house seen 
afar off. The day of judgment will prove that 
many besides husbands have been won "with- 
out the word" by a holy life-. (1 Peter iii. 1.) 
You may talk to people about the doctrines of 
the Grospel, and few will listen, and still fewer 
understand. But your life is an argument that 
none can escape. There is a meaning about 
holiness which not even the most unlearned 
can help taking in. They may not under- 
stand justification, but they can understand 
charity. 

And I believe there is far more harm done 



196 AEE YOU HOLY. 

by unholy and inconsistent Christians than we 
are at all aware. Such men are among Satan's 
best allies. They pull down by their lives what 
ministers build with their lips. They cause the 
chariot wheels of the Gospel to drive heavily. 
They supply the children of this world with a 
never-ending excuse for remaining as they are. 
" I cannot see the use of so much religion," 
said an irreligious tradesmen not long ago ; 
" I observe that some of my customers are al- 
ways talking about the Gospel, and faith, and 
election, and the blessed promises and so forth ; 
— and yet- these very people think nothing of 
cheating me of pence and half-pence, when 
they have an opportunity. Now if religious 
persons can do such things, I do not see what 
good there is in religion." Oh ! Reader, I 
blush to be obliged to read such things. I fear 
that Christ's name is too often blasphemed be- 
cause of the lives of Christians. Let us take 
heed lest the blood of souls be required at our 
hands. From murder of souls by inconsistency 
and loose walking, good Lord deliver us ! Oh ! 



AEE YOU HOLY. 197 

for the sake of others, if for no other reason, let 
us strive to be holy ! 

We must be holy, because our present com- 
fort depends much upon it. We cannot be 
too often reminded of this. We are sadly apt 
to forget that there is a close connection be- 
tween sin and sorrow, holiness and happiness, 
sanctification and consolation. God has so 
wisely ordered it, that our well-being and our 
well-doing are linked together. He has merci- 
fully provided that even in this world it shall 
be man's interest to be holy. Our justification 
is not by works, — our calling and election are 
not according to our works, — but it is vain for 
any one to suppose that he will have a lively 
sense of his justification, or an assurance of 
his calling, so long as he does not strive to live 
a holy life. A believer may as soon expect to 
feel the sun's rays upon a dark and cloudy day, 
as to feel strong consolation in Christ, while he 
does not follow Him fully. When the disciples 
forsook the Lord and fled, they escaped dan- 
ger, but they were miserable and sad. When 
shortly after they confessed Him boldly before 



198 AEE YOU HOLY. 

men, they were cast into prison and beaten, 
but we are told, " They rejoiced that they were 
counted worthy to suffer shame for His name." 
(Acts v. 41.) Oh ! for our own sakes, if there 
were no other reason, let us strive to be holy ! 
He that follows Jesus most fully, will always 
follow Him most comfortably. 

Lastly, we must be holy, because without 
holiness on earth we should never be prepared 
to enjoy heaven. Heaven is a holy place. The 
Lord of heaven is a holy Being. The angels 
are holy creatures. Holiness is written on 
everything in heaven. The book of Revelation 
says expressly, " there shall in nowise enter into 
it, anything that defileth, neither whatsoever 
worketh abomination, or maketh a lie." (Rev. 
xxi. 27.) 

Reader, how shall we ever find a place in 
heaven, if we die unholy ! Death works no 
change. The grave makes no alteration. 
Each will rise again with the same character 
in which he breathed his last. Where will 
our place be if we are strangers to holiness 
now? 



ARE YOU HOLY. 199 

Suppose for a moment that you were allowed 
to enter heaven without holiness. What would 
you do ? What possible enjoyment could you 
feel there ? To which of all the saints would 
you join yourself s and by whose side would 
you sit down ? Their pleasures are not your 
pleasures, their tastes are not your tastes, their 
character not your character. How could 
you possibly be happy if you had not been 
holy on earth ? 

Now perhaps, you love the company of the 
light and the careless, the worldly-minded and 
the covetous, the reveller and the pleasure- 
seeker, the ungodly and the profane. There 
will be none such in heaven. 

Now perhaps, you think the saints of God too 
strict, and particular, and serious. You rather 
avoid them. You have no delight in their 
society. There will be no other company in 
heaven. 

Now perhaps, you think praying, and Scrip- 
ture reading, and hymn-singing, dull and 
melancholy, and stupid work, a thing to be tol- 
erated now and then, but not enjoyed. You 



200 ARE YOU HOLY. 

reckon the Sabbath a burden, and a weariness ; 
you could not possibly spend more than a small 
part of it in worshipping God. But remember, 
heaven is a never-ending Sabbath. The in- 
habitants thereof rest not day or night, saying, 
" Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty," and 
singing the praise of the Lamb. How could 
an unholy man find pleasure in occupation 
such as this ? 

Think you that such an one would delight to 
meet David, and Paul, and John, after a life 
spent in doing the very things they spoke 
against ? Would he take sweet counsel with 
them, and find that he and they had much in 
common ? Think you, above all, that he would 
rejoice to meet Jesus, the Crucified One, face 
to face, after cleaving to the sins for which He 
died, — after loving His enemies, and despising 
his friends? Would he stand before him in 
confidence, and join in the cry, " This is our 
God, we have waited for Him, we will be glad, 
and rejoice in his salvation ?" Think you not 
rather that the tongue of an unholy man would 
cleave to the roof of his mouth with shame, 



AEE YOU HOLY. 201 

and his only desire would be to be cast out ? 
He would feel a stranger in a land he knew 
not, a black sheep amidst Christ's holy flock. 
The voice of Cherubim and Seraphim, the song 
of Angels and Archangels, and all the company 
of heaven would be a language he could not 
understand. The very air would seem an air 
he could not breathe. 

Reader, I know not what you may think, 
but to me it does seem clear, that heaven would 
be a miserable place to an unholy man. It 
cannot be otherwise. People may say, in a 
vague way, " they hope to go to heaven," but 
they do not consider what they say. There 
must be a certain meetness for the inheritance 
of the saints in light. Our hearts must be 
somewhat in tune. To reach the holiday of 
glory we must pass through the training school 
of grace. Reader, you must be heavenly 
minded, and have heavenly tastes, in the life 
that now is, or else you will never find yourself 
in heaven in the life to come. 

And now let me wind up all with a few 
words, by way of application. 



202 ABE YOU HOLY. 

1. For one thing, let me ask every one who 
may read these pages, Are you holy ? Listen, 
I pray you, to the question I put to you this 
day. Do you know anything of the holiness 
of which I have been speaking ? 

I do not ask whether you keep to your 
church regularly, — whether you have been 
baptized, and receive the Lord's Supper, — 
whether you have the name of Christian ; — I 
ask something more than all this, Are you holy, 
or are you not ? 

1 do not ask whether you approve of holi- 
ness in others, — whether you like to read the 
lives of holy people, and to talk of holy things, 
and to have on your table holy books, — 
whether you mean to be holy, and hope you 
will be holy some day, — I ask something fur- 
ther, Are you yourself holy this very day, or 
are you not ? 

And why do I ask so straitly, and press the 
question so strongly ? I do it because the text 
says, " Without holiness no man shall see the 
Lord. 5 ' It is written, it is not my fancy — it is 
the Bible, not my private opinion,— -it is the 



ARE YOU HOLY. 203 

word of God, not of man, "Without holiness 
no man shall see the hordP 

Oh ! Reader, what words are these ! What 
thoughts come across nvy mind, as I write them 
down ! I look at the world, and see the greater 
part of it. lying in wickedness. I look at pro- 
fessing Christians, and see the vast majority 
having nothing of Christianity but the name. 
I turn to the Bible, and I hear the Spirit say- 
ing, " Without holiness no man shall see the 
Lord." 

Surely it is a text that ought to make you 
consider your ways, and search your hearts. 
Surely it should raise within you solemn 
thoughts, and send you to prayer. 

You may try and put me off. by saying, 
"you feel much, and think much, about these 
things, far more than many suppose." I an- 
swer, This is not the point. The poor lost 
souls in hell do as much as this. The great 
question is, not what you think, and what you 
feel, but what you do. 

You may say, " it was never meant that all 
Christians should be holy, and that holiness, 



204 AEE YOU HOLY. 

such as I have described, is only for great 
saints, and people of uncommon gifts." I 
answer, I cannot see that in Scripture. I read 
that " every man who has hope in Christ, puri- 
fieth himself." (1 John iii. 3.)—" Without holi- 
ness no man shall see the Lord." 

You may say, " it is impossible to be so holy, 
and to do our duty in this life at the same time: 
the thing cannot be done." I answer, You are 
mistaken. It can be done. With God on your 
side nothing is impossible. It has been done 
by many. David, and Obadiah, and Daniel, 
and the servants of Nero's household, are all 
examples that go to prove it. 

You may say, " if you were so holy, you 
would be unlike other people." I answer, I 
know it well. It is just what I want you to 
be. Christ's true servants always were unlike 
the world around them, a separate nation, a 
peculiar people, and you must be so too, if you 
would be saved. 

You may say, " at this rate very few will be 
saved." I answer, I know it. Jesus said so 
1800 years ago. Few will be saved, because 



AEE YOU HOLY. 205 

few will take the trouble to seek salvation. 
Men will not deny themselves the pleasure of 
sin, and their own way for a season. For this 
they turn their backs on an inheritance incor- 
ruptible, undefiled, and that fadeth not away. 
" Ye will not come unto me," says Jesus, " that 
ye might have life." (John v. 40.) 

You may say, " These are hard sayings, 
the way is very narrow." I answer, I know it. 
Jesus said so 1800 years ago. He always said 
that men must take up the cross daily, that 
they must be ready to cut off hand or foot, if 
they would be His disciples. It is in religion 
as it is in other things, " there are no gains 
without pains." That which costs nothing is 
worth nothing. 

Reader, whatever you may think or say, 
you must be holy, if you would see the Lord. 
Where is your Christianity, if you are not ? 
Show it to me without holiness, if you can. 
You must not merely have a Christian name, 
and Christian knowledge,* you must have a 
Christian character also. You must be a saint 
on earth, if ever you mean to be a saint in 



206 AKE YOU HOLY. 



heaven. God has said it, and He will not go 
back, — " Without holiness no man shall see 
the Lord." " The Pope's calendar," says Jen- 
kyn, " only makes saints of the dead, but Scrip- 
ture requires sanctity in the living." " Let 
not men deceive themselves," says Owen, 
" sanctification is a qualification indispensably 
necessary unto those who will be under the 
conduct of the Lord Christ unto salvation : He 
leads none to heaven, but whom He sanctifies 
on the earth. This living Head will not admit 
of dead members." 

Surely you will not wonder that Scripture 
says, " Ye must be born again." (John iii. 7.) 
Surely it is clear as noon-day that many a 
man needs a complete change, — a new heart, 
— a new nature, — if ever he is to be saved. 
Old things must pass away, — he must become 
a new creature. Without holiness no man, 
be he who he may, no man shall see the Lord. 

2. Let me, for another thing, speak a little 
to every believer who reads these pages. I ask 
you this question, " Do you think you feel the 
importance of holiness as much as you should ?" 



ARE YOU HOLY. 207 

I own I. fear the temper of the times about 
this subject. I doubt exceedingly whether it 
holds that place which it deserves in the 
thoughts and attention of some of the Lord's 
people. I would humbly suggest that we are 
apt to overlook the doctrine of growth in 
grace, and that we do not sufficiently con- 
sider how very far a person may go in a pro- 
fession of religion, and yet have no grace, 
and be dead in God's sight after all. I be- 
lieve that Judas Iscariot seemed very like 
the other apostles. When the Lord warned 
them one would betray Him, no one said, "Is 
it Judas ?" We had better think more about 
Sardis and Laodicea than we do. 

I have no desire to make an idol of holiness. 
I do not wish to dethrone Christ, and put 
holiness in His place. But I must candidly 
say, I wish sanctification was more thought of 
in this day than it seems to be, and I therefore 
take occasion to press the subject on all be- 
lievers into whose hands this paper may fall. 

I fear it is sometimes forgotten, that God has 
married together justification and sanctifica- 



208 ARE YOU HOLY. 

tion. They are distinct and different things 
beyond question, but one is never found with- 
out the other. All justified people are sancti- 
fied, and all sanctified are justified. What God 
has joined together let no man dare put asun- 
der. Tell me not of your justification, unless 
you have also some marks of sanctification. 
Boast not of Christ's work for you, unless you 
can show us the Spirit's work in you. Think 
not that Christ and the Spirit can ever be di- 
vided. 

Reader, if you are a believer, I doubt not 
you know these things, but I think it good to 
put you in remembrance of them. Prove that 
you know them by your life. Try to keep in 
view this text more continually, " Follow 
holiness, without which no man shall see the 
Lord." 

I must frankly say, I wish there was not 
such an excessive sensitiveness on the subject 
of holiness as I sometimes perceive in the 
minds of believers. A man might really think 
it was a dangerous subject to handle, so cau- 
tiously is it touched. Yet surely when we have 



ARE YOU HOLY. 209 

exalted Christ as the way, the truth, and the 
life, we cannot err in speaking strongly about 
what should be the character of His people. 
Well says Rutherford, " The way that crieth 
down duties and sanctification, is not the way 
of grace. Believing and doing are blood 
friends." 

There is a thing I would say with reverence, 
— but say it I must, — I sometimes fear if Christ 
were on earth now, there are not a few who 
would think His preaching legal ; and if Paul 
were writing his Epistles, there are those who 
would think he had better not write the latter 
part of most of them as he did. But let us 
remember that the Lord Jesus did speak the 
Sermon on the Mount, and that the Epistle 
to the Ephesians contains six chapters, and not 
four. I grieve to feel obliged to speak in this 
way, but I am sure there is a cause. 

The great divine, Owen, said some two hun- 
dred years ago, that there were people whose 
whole religion seemed to consist in going about 
complaining of their own corruptions, and telling 
every one they could do nothing of themselves. 
14 



210 AEE YOU HOLY. 

Reader, I put it to yourself, — might not the 
same thing be said with truth of some of 
Christ's professing people in this day ? 

I know there are texts in Scripture that war- 
rant such complaints. I do not object to them 
when they come from men who walk in the 
steps of the apostle Paul, and fight a good fight, 
as he did, against sin, the devil, and the world. 
But I never like such complaints when I see 
grounds for suspecting, as I often do, .that they 
are only a cloak to cover spiritual laziness, and 
an excuse for spiritual sloth. If we say with 
Paul, " O wretched man that I am," let us also 
be able to say with him, "I press toward the 
mark." Let us not quote his example in one 
thing, while we do not follow him in another. 
(Rom. vii. 24. Phil. iii. 14.) 

I do not set up myself to be better than other 
people, and if any one asks, " What are you, 
that you talk in this way ?" I answer, " I am a 
very poor creature indeed." But I tell you 
I cannot read the Bible without desiring to 
see many believers more spiritual, more holy, 
more single-eyed, more heavenly-minded, more 



ARE YOU HOLY. 211 

whole-hearted than they are. I want to see 
among us more of a pilgrim spirit, a more de- 
cided separation from the world, a conversa- 
tion more evidently in heaven, a closer walk 
with God, — and therefore I have spoken as I 
have. 

Is it not true that we need a higher standard 
of personal holiness in this day ? Where is 
our patience ? Where is our zeal ? Where 
is our love ? Where are our works ? Where is 
the power of religion to be seen, as it was in 
times gone by ? Where is that unmistakable 
tone that used to distinguish the saints of old, 
and shake the world ? Verily our silver lias 
become dross, our wine mixed with water. 
We are all more than half asleep. The night 
is far spent, and the day is at hand. Let us 
awake and sleep no more. Let us open our 
eyes more widely than we have done hitherto. 
Let us lay aside every weight, and the sin that 
doth so easily beset us. Let us cleanse our- 
selves from all filthiness of flesh and spirit, and 
perfect holiness in the fear of God. " Did 
Christ die," says Owen, " and shall sin live ? 



212 AEE YOU HOLT. 

Was He crucified in the world, and shall our 
affections to the world be quick and lively ? 
Oh ! where is the spirit of Him, who by the 
cross of Christ was crucified to the world, and 
the world to him ?" 

3. Let me, in the last place, offer a word of 
advice to all who desire to be holy. 

Would you be holy ? Would you become 
new creatures ?" Then begin with Christ. You 
will do just nothing till you feel your sin and 
weakness, and flee to Him. He is the begin- 
ning of all holiness. He is not wisdom and right- 
eousness only to His people, but sanctification 
also. Men sometimes try to make themselves 
holy first of all, and sad work they make of it. 
They toil and labor, and turn over many new 
leaves, and make many changes, and yet, like 
the woman with the issue of blood before she 
came to Christ, they feel nothing bettered, but 
rather worse. They run in vain, and labor in 
vain, and little wonder, for they are beginning 
at the wrong end. They are building up a wall 
of sand ; their w^ork runs down as fast as they 
throw it up. They are baling water out of a 



AKE YOU HOLY. 213 

leaky vessel ; the leak gains on them, not they 
on the leak. Other foundation of holiness can 
no man lay than that which Paul laid, even 
Christ Jesus. Without Christ we can do noth- 
ing. It is a strong but true saying of Traill's, 
" Wisdom out of Christ is damning folly ; — 
righteousness out of Christ is guilt and con- 
demnation ; — sanctification out of Christ is filth 
and sin ; — redemption out of Christ is bondage 
and slavery." 

Would you be holy ? Would you be par- 
takers of the divine nature ? Then go to Christ. 
Wait for nothing. Wait for nobody. Linger 
not. Think not to make yourself ready. Go 
and say to Him, in the words of that beautiful 
hymn, — 

" Nothing in my hand I bring, 
Simply to thy cross I cling ; 
Waked, flee to thee for dress ; 
Helpless, look to thee for grace." 

There is not a brick nor a stone laid in the 
work of our sanctification, till we go to Christ. 
Holiness is His special gift to His believing 
people. Holiness is the work He carries on in 



214 AEE YOU HOLY. 

their hearts by the Spirit whom He puts within 
them. He is anointed a Prince and a Saviour, 
to give repentance as well as remission of sins. 
To as many as receive Him He gives power to 
become sons of God. (John i. 12.) 

Holiness comes not of blood, — parents cannot 
give it to their children : nor yet of the will of the 
flesh, — man cannot produce it in himself: nor 
yet of the will of man, ministers cannot give it 
you by baptism. Holiness comes from Christ. 
It is the result of vital union with Him. It is 
the fruit of being a living branch of the true 
vine. Go then to Christ, and say, " Lord, not 
only save me from the guilt of sin, but send the 
Spirit, whom thou didst promise, and save me 
from its power. Make me holy. Teach me 
to do thy will." 

Would you continue holy ? Then abide in 
Christ. He says Himself, " Abide in me and 
I in you, — he that abideth in me and I in him, 
the same beareth much fruit." (John xv. 4, 5 ) 
It pleased the Father that in Him should all 
fulness dwell, — a full supply for all a believer's 
wants. He is the Physician to whom you 



AEE YOU HOLY. 215 

must daily go. if you would keep well. He is 
the manna which you must daily eat, and the 
rock of which you must daily drink. His arm 
is the arm on which you must daily lean, as 
you come up out of the wilderness of this world. 
You must not only be rooted, you must also be 
built up in Him. Paul was a man of God in- 
deed, — a holy man, — a growing, thriving Chris- 
tian, — and what was the secret of it all ? He 
was one to whom Christ was " all in all." He 
was ever " looking unto Jesus." " I can do 
all things," he says, " through Christ which 
strengtheneth me." " I live, yet not I, but 
Christ liveth in me. The life that I now live, 
I live by the faith of the Son of God." (Phil, 
iv. 13. Gal. ii. 20.) Reader, go and do like- 
wise. 

Now may you and I know these things by 
experience, and not by hearsay only. May we 
all feel the importance of holiness far more 
than we have ever done yet. May our years 
be holy years with our souls, and then I know 
they will be happy ones. Whether we live, 
may we live unto the Lord ; or whether we 



216 ARE YOU HOLY. 

die, may we die unto the Lord : or if He come 
for us, may we be found in peace, without spot, 
and blameless. 

And now, if I have erred in anything that 
I have written, may the good Lord pardon 
me, and show me what is the mind of the 
Spirit. But if, as I believe, I have told you 
the truth, may the Lord open your heart, and 
make it a word in season to you, and all who 
read it. 



(Mt{ mi Way. 



"neither is there salvation in any other; for there 
is none other name under heaven, given among men, 
whereby we must be saved." 

Acts iv. 12. 

Reader, — 

These words are striking in themselves. 
But they are much more striking, if you con- 
sider when, and by whom they were spoken. 

They were spoken by a poor and friendless 
Christian, in the midst of a persecuting Jewish 
Council. It was a grand confession of Christ. 

They were spoken by the lips of the Apostle 
Peter. This is the man who a few weeks be- 
fore forsook Jesus and fled. This is the very 
man who three times over denied his Lord. 
There is another spirit in him now. He stands 
up boldly before Priests and Sadducees, and 
tells them the truth to their face : " This is the 
stone that was set at naught of you builders, 



218 ONLY ONE WAY. 



which is become the head of the corner. 
Neither is there salvation in any other : for 
there is none other name under heaven, given 
among men, whereby we must be saved." 

Now, I need hardly tell you, this text is one 
of the principal foundations on which the Eigh- 
teenth Article of the Church of England is 
built. 

That Article runs as follows : " They also are 
to be had accursed that presume to say that 
every man shall be saved by the law or sect he 
professeth, so that he be diligent to frame his 
life according to that law and the light of na- 
ture. For Holy Scripture doth set out unto 
us only the name of Jesus Christ, whereby men 
must be saved." 

There are few stronger assertions than this 
throughout the whole thirty-nine Articles. It 
is the only anathema pronounced by our Church 
from one end of her confession of faith to the 
other. The Council of Trent in her decrees 
anathematizes continually. The Church of 
England does it once, and once only. And 
that she does it on good grounds, I propose to 



ONLY ONE WAY. 219 

show you by an examination of the Apostle 
Peter's words. 

In considering this solemn subject, there are 
three things I wish to do. 

I. First, to show you the doctrine here laid 
down by the Apostle. 

II. Secondly, to show you some reasons 
why this doctrine must be true. 

III. Thirdly, to show you some conse- 
quences which naturally flow from the doc- 
trine. 

I. First let me show you the doctrine of 
the text. 

Let us make sure that we rightly understand 
what the Apostle Peter means. He says of 
Christ, " Neither is there salvation in any 
other : for there is none other name under 
heaven, given among men, whereby we must 
be saved." Now what is this ? On our clearly 
seeing this very much depends. 

He means that no one can be saved from 
sin, — its guilt, power, and consequences, — ex- 
cepting by Jesus Christ. 

He means that no one can have peace with 



220 



ONLY ONE WAY. 



Gocl the Father, — obtain pardon in this world, 
— and escape wrath to come in the next, — ex- 
cepting through the atonement and mediation 
of Jesus Christ. 

In Christ alone God's rich provision of sal- 
vation for sinners is treasured up. By Christ 
alone God's abundant mercies come down from 
heaven to earth. Christ's blood alone can 
cleanse us. Christ's righteousness alone can 
clothe us. Christ's merit alone can give us a 
title to heaven. Jew r s and Gentiles, — learned 
and unlearned, — kings and poor men, — all alike 
must either be saved by Jesus, or lost forever. 

And the Apostle adds emphatically, " there 
is none other name under heaven, given among 
men, whereby we must be saved." There is 
no other person commissioned, sealed, and ap- 
pointed by God the Father, to be the Saviour 
of Sinners, excepting Christ. The keys of life 
and death are committed to his hand, and all 
who would be saved must go to Him. 

There was but one place of safety in the day 
when the flood came upon the earth, and that 
was Noah's ark. All other places and devices, 



ONLY ONE WAY. 221 

— mountains, towers, trees, rafts, boats, — all 
were alike useless. So also there is but one 
hiding-place for the sinner who would escape 
the storm of God's anger, — he must venture his 
soul on Christ. 

There was but one man to whom the Egyp- 
tians could go in the time of famine, when they 
wanted food. They must go to Joseph. It 
was a waste of time to go to any one else. So 
also there is but one to whom hungering souls 
must go, if they would not perish forever, — 
they must go to Christ. 

There was but one word that could save the 
lives of the Ephraimites in the day when the 
Gileadites contended with them, and took the 
fords of Jordan. (Judges xi.) They must say 
" Shibboleth" or die. Just so there is but one 
name that will avail us when .we stand at the 
gate of heaven. We must name the name of 
Jesus as our only hope, or be cast away ever- 
lastingly. 

Such is the doctrine of the text, " No salva- 
tion but by Jesus Christ ; — in Him plenty of 
salvation,— salvation to the uttermost, — salva- 



222 ONLY ONE WAY. 

tion for the very chief of sinners ; — out of Him 
no salvation at all." It is in perfect harmony 
with our Lord's own word in St. John : " I am 
the way, the truth, and the life ; no man com- 
eth unto the Father but by me." (John xiv. 6.) 
It is the same thing that Paul tells the Corin- 
thians : " Other foundation can no man lay 
than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ." (1 Cor. 
iii. 11.) And the same that John tells us in 
his first Epistle : " God hath given to us eter- 
nal life, and this life is in His Son. He that 
hath the Son hath life, and he that hath not 
the Son of God hath not life." (1 John v. 12.) 
All these texts come to one and the same point, 
— no salvation but by Jesus Christ. 

Reader, make sure that you understand this 
before you pass on. Perhaps you think, this 
is all old news. Perhaps you feel, " these are 
ancient things : who knoweth not such truths 
as these ? Of course we believe there is no 
salvation but by Christ." But mark well what 
I say ; make sure that you understand this 
doctrine, or else by-and-by you will stumble 
and be offended at what I have yet to say. 



ONLY ONE WAY. 223 



Remember that you are to venture the 
whole salvation of your soul on Christ, and on 
Christ only. You are to cast loose completely 
and entirely from all other hopes and trusts. 
You are not to rest partly on Christ, — partly 
on doing all you can, — partly on keeping your 
Church, — partly on receiving the sacrament. 
In the matter of your justification Christ is to 
be all. This is the doctrine of the text. 

Remember that heaven is before you, and 
Christ the only door into it ; — hell beneath 
you, and Christ alone able to deliver you from 
it ;— the devil behind you, and Christ the only 
refuge from his wrath and accusations ; — the 
law against you, and Christ alone able to re- 
deem you ; — sin weighing you down, and 
Christ alone able to put it away. This is the 
doctrine of the text. 

Now do you see it ? I hope you do. But I 
fear many think so, who may find before laying 
down this paper they do not. 

II. Let me show you, in the second place, 
some reasons why the doctrine of the text must 
he true. 



224 



ONLY ONE WAY. 



I might cut short this part of the subject by- 
one simple argument, " God says so." " One 
plain text/' said an old divine, "is as good as a 
thousand reasons." 

But I will not do this. I wish to meet the 
objections that are ready to rise in many hearts 
against this doctrine, by pointing out the strong 
foundations on which it stands. 

1. Let me then say, for one thing, the doc- 
trine of the text must be true, because man is 
what man is. 

Now, what is man ? There is one broad 
sweeping answer, which takes in the whole 
human race, — man is a sinful being. All chil- 
dren of Adam born into the world, whatever 
be their name or nation, are corrupt, wicked, 
and denied, in the sight of God. Their thoughts, 
words, ways, and actions, are all more or less 
defective and imperfect. 

Is there no country on the face of the globe 
where sin does not reign ? Is there no happy 
valley, — no secluded island, where innocence 
is to be found ? Is there no tribe on earth, 
where far away from civilization, and com- 



ONLY ONE WAY. 225 

merce, and money, and gunpowder, and luxury, 
and books, morality and purity flourish ? — No ! 
Reader, there is none. Look over all the voy- 
ages and travels you can lay your hand on, 
from Columbus down to Cook, and you will 
see the truth of what I am asserting. The 
most solitary islands of the Pacific Ocean, — 
islands cut off from all the rest of the world, 
— islands where people were -alike ignorant 
of Rome and Paris, London and Jerusalem, 
— these islands have been found full of im- 
purity, cruelty, and idolatry. The footprints 
of the devil have been traced on every shore. 
The veracity of the third of Genesis has every- 
where been established. Whatever else savages 
have been found ignorant of, they have never 
been found ignorant of sin. 

But are there no men and women in the 
world who are free from this corruption of 
nature ? Have there not been high and ex- 
alted souls, who have every now and then 
lived faultless lives ? Have there not been 
some, if it be only a few, who have done all 
that God required, and thus proved that sin- 
15 



226 ONLY ONE WAY. 

less perfection is a possibility ? — No, Reader, 
there have been none. Look over all the 
biographies and lives of the holiest Christians. 
Mark how the brightest and best of Christ's 
people have always had the deepest sense of 
their own defectiveness and corruption. They 
groan, they mourn, they sigh, they weep over 
their own short-comings. It is one of the 
common grounds on which they meet. Pa- 
triarchs and Apostles, Fathers and Reformers, 
Episcopalians and Presbyterians, Luther and 
Calvin, Knox and Bradford,. Rutherford and 
Bishop Hall, Wesley and Whitefield, Martyn 
and M'Cheyne, — all are alike agreed in feeling 
their own sinfulness. The more light they 
have, the more humble and self-abased they 
seem to be. The more holy they are, the 
more they seem to feel their own unworthi- 
ness, and to glory, not in themselves, but in 
Christ. 

Now, what does all this tend to prove ? To 
my eyes it seems to prove, that human nature 
is so tainted and corrupt that, left to himself, 
no man could be saved. Man's case appears 



ONLY ONE WAY. 227 

to me a hopeless one without a Saviour, — and 
that a mighty Saviour too. There must be a 
Mediator, an Atonement, an Advocate, to make 
such poor sinful beings acceptable with God : 
— and I find this nowhere excepting in Jesus 
Christ. Heaven for man without a mighty 
Redeemer, — peace with God for man without a 
mighty Intercessor, — eternal life for man with- 
out an eternal Saviour, — in one word, salva- 
tion without Christ — all alike appear to me 
utter impossibilities. 

I lay these things before you, and ask you to 
consider them. I know it is one of the hardest 
things in the world to realize the sinfulness of 
sin. To say we are all sinners is one thing ; to 
have an idea what sin must be in the sight of 
God is quite another. Sin is too much part of 
ourselves, to allow us to see it as it is. We do 
not feel our own moral deformity. We are 
like those animals in creation which are vile 
and loathsome to our senses, but are not so to 
themselves, nor yet to one another. Their loath- 
someness is their nature, and they do not per- 
ceive it. Our corruption is part and parcel of 



228 ONLY ONE WAY. 

ourselves, and at our best we have but a feeble 
comprehension of its intensity. 

But this you may be sure of, if you could 
see "your own lives with the eyes of the angels 
who never fell, you would never doubt this 
point for a moment. Depend on it, no one can 
really know what man is, and not see that the 
doctrine of our text must be true. There can 
be no salvation except by Christ. 

2. Let me say another thing. The doc- 
trine of our text must be true, because God is 
what God is. 

Now, what is God? That is a deep question 
indeed. We know something of his attributes. 
He has not left himself without witness in cre- 
ation. He has mercifully revealed to us many 
things about Himself in His word. We know 
that God is a Spirit, — eternal, — invisible, — 
almighty, — the Maker of all things, — the Pre- 
server of all things, — holy, — just, — all-seeing, 
— all-knowing ; — all-remembering, — infinite in 
mercy, in wisdom, in purity. 

But alas ! after all, how low and grovelling 
are our highest ideas, when we come to put 



ONLY ONE WAY. 229 

down on paper what we believe God to be ! 
How many words and expressions we use 
whose full meaning we cannot fathom ! How 
many things our tongues say of Him. which 
our minds are utterly unable to conceive ! 

How small a part of Him do we see ! How 
little of Him can we possibly know! How 
mean and paltry are any words of ours to con- 
vey any idea of Him who made this mighty 
world out of nothing, and with whom one day 
is as a thousand years, and a thousand years 
as one day ! How weak and inadequate are 
our poor feeble intellects to conceive of Him 
who is perfect in all His works, — perfect in 
the greatest as well as perfect in the smallest, 
— perfect in appointing the days and hours in 
which Jupiter, with all his satellites, shall travel 
round the sun, — perfect in forming the smallest 
insect that creeps over a few feet of our little 
globe ! How little can our busy helplessness 
comprehend a Being who is ever ordering all 
things in heaven and earth by universal provi- 
dence, — ordering the rise and fall of nations 
and dynasties, like Nineveh and Carthage ; — 



230 ONLY ONE WAY. 

ordering the exact length to which men like 
Alexander, and Tamerlane, and Napoleon shall 
extend their conquests, — ordering the least step 
in the life of the humblest believer among His 
people, — all at the same time, — all unceas- 
ingly, — all perfectly, — all for His own glory ! 

The blind man is no judge of the paintings 
of Rubens or Titian. The deaf man is insen- 
sible to the beauty of Handel's music. The 
Greenlander can have but a faint notion of the 
climate of the tropics. The Australian savage 
can form but a remote conception of a locomo- 
tive engine, however well you may describe 
it. There is no place in their minds to take in 
these things. They have no set of thoughts 
which can comprehend them. They have no 
mental fingers to grasp them. And just in the 
same way, the best and brightest ideas that 
man can form of God, compared with the re- 
ality which we shall see one day, are weak and 
faint indeed. 

But, Reader, one thing, I think, is very clear, 
and that is this. The more any man considers 
calmly what God really is, the more he must 



ONLY ONE WAY. 231 

feel the immeasurable distance between God 
and himself. The more he meditates, the more 
he must see that there is a great gulf between 
him and God. His conscience, I think, will 
tell him, if he will let it speak, that God is per- 
fect, and he imperfect; — that God is very high, 
and he very low ; — that God is glorious Ma- 
jesty, and he a poor worm ; — and that if ever 
he is to stand before Him in judgment with 
comfort, he must have some mighty Helper, or 
he will not be saved. 

And what is all this but the very doctrine of 
our text ? What is all this but coming round 
to the conclusion I am urging upon you? With 
such an one as God to give account to, we 
must have a mighty Saviour. To give us 
peace with such a glorious Being as God, we 
must have an Almighty Friend and Advocate 
on our side, — an Advocate who can answer 
every charge that can be laid against us, and 
plead our cause with God on equal terms. We 
want this, and nothing less than this. Vague 
notions of mercy will never give true peace. 
And such a Saviour, such a Friend, such an 



232 ONLY ONE WAY. 

Advocate is nowhere to be found, excepting 
in the person of Jesus Christ. 

I lay this reason also before you. I know 
well that people may have false notions of God, 
as well as everything else, and shut their eyes 
against truth. But I say boldly and confi- 
dently, no man can have really high and honor- 
able views of what God is, and escape the 
conclusion that the doctrine of our text must 
be true. There can be no possible salvation, 
but by Jesus Christ. 

3. Let me say, in the third place, this doc- 
trine must be true, because the Bible is what 
the Bible is. 

All through the Bible, from Genesis down to 
Revelation, there is only one simple account of 
the way in which men must be saved. It is 
always the same, — only for the sake of our 
Lord Jesus Christ, — through faith,— not for 
our own works and de servings. 

You see it dimly revealed at first. It looms 
through the mist of a few promises, but there 
it is. 

.You have it more plainly afterwards. It is 



ONLY ONE WAY. 233 

taught by the pictures and emblems of the law 
of Moses, the schoolmaster dispensation. (Gral. 
iii. 24.) 

You have it still more clearly by-and-by. 
The Prophets saw in vision many particulars 
about the Redeemer yet to come. 

You have it fully at last, in the sunshine 
of the New Testament history, — Christ incar- 
nate, — Christ crucified, — Christ rising again, — 
Christ preached to the world. 

But one golden chain runs through the whole 
volume, — no salvation excepting by Jesus 
Christ. The bruising of the serpent's head, 
foretold in the day of the fall, — the clothing of 
our first parents with skins, — the sacrifices of 
Noah, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, — the pass- 
over, and all the particulars of the Jewish law, 
— the high-priest, — the altar, — the daily offer- 
ing of the lamb, — the holy of holies entered 
only by blood, — the scapegoat, — the cities of 
refuge, — all are so many witnesses to the truth 
set forth in the text, — all preach with one 
voice, salvation only by Jesus Christ. 

In fact this truth appears* to me the grand 



234 ONLY ONE WAY. 

subject of the Bible, and all the different parts 
and portions of the Book are meant to throw 
light upon it. I can gather from it no ideas 
of pardon and peace with God, excepting in 
connection with this truth. If I could read of 
one soul in it, who was saved without faith in 
a Saviour, I might perhaps not speak so confi- 
dently. But I see that faith in Christ, — wheth- 
er a coming Christ, or a crucified Christ, — 
was the prominent feature in the religion of all 
who went to heaven. I see Abel owning Christ 
in his better sacrifice at one end of the Bible, 
and the saints in glory in John's vision, rejoic- 
ing in Christ at the other end of the Bible. I 
see a man like Cornelius, who was devout and 
feared God. and gave alms, and prayed, not 
told that he had done all, and would of course 
be saved, but ordered to send for Peter, and 
hear of Christ. And when I see all these facts, 
I feel bound to believe that the doctrine of the 
text is the doctrine of the whole Bible, — no 
salvation, no way to heaven excepting by Jesus 
Christ. 

Reader, I do not know what use you make 



ONLY ONE WAY. 235 

of your Bible, — whether you read it, or wheth- 
er you do not, — whether you read it all, or 
whether you only read such parts as you like. 
But this I tell you plainly, if you read and be- 
lieve the whole Bible, you will find it hard to 
escape the doctrine of the eighteenth Article 
of the Church of England already quoted. I 
do not see how you can consistently reject 
what I have been endeavoring to prove. — 
Christ is the way, — and the only way, — Christ 
the truth, and the only truth, — Christ the life, 
and the only life. 

Such are the reasons which seem to me to 
confirm the truth laid down in our text. What 
man is, — what God is, — what the Bible is ; — 
all appear to me to lead us on to the same great 
conclusion, — no possible salvation without 
Christ. I leave them with you, and pass on. 

III. And now, in the third and last place, 
let me show you some consequences which flow 
naturally out of our text. 

There are few parts of this subject which 
seem to me more important than this. The 
truth I have been trying to set before you, 



236 ONLY ONE WAT. 

bears so strongly on the condition of a great 
proportion of mankind, that I consider it would 
be mere affectation on my part, not to say some- 
thing about it. If Christ is the only way of 
salvation, what are we to feel about many 
people in the world ? This is the point I am 
now going to take up. 

I believe that many persons will go with me 
so far as I have gone, and would go no further. 
They will allow my premises. They will have 
nothing to say to my conclusions. They think 
it uncharitable to say anything which appears 
to condemn others. For my part I cannot un- 
derstand such charity. It seems to me the 
kind of charity which would see a neighbor 
drinking slow poison, but never interfere to 
stop him ; — which would allow emigrants to 
embark in a leaky, ill-found vessel, and not in- 
terfere to prevent them ; — which would see a 
blind man walking near a precipice, and think 
it wrong to cry out and tell him there was 
danger. 

I believe the greatest charity is to tell the 
greatest quantity of truth. I believe it is no 



ONLY ONE WAY. 237 

charity to hide the legitimate consequences of 
such a text as we are now considering, or to 
shut our eyes against them. And I solemnly 
call on every one who really believes there is 
no salvation in any but Christ, — and none 
other name given under heaven whereby we 
must be saved, — =1 solemnly call on that person 
to listen to me, while I set before him some 
of the tremendous consequences which the text 
involves. 

I am not going to speak of the heathen, who 
have never heard the Gospel. Their final state 
is a great depth, which the mightiest minds 
have been unable to fathom. I am not asham- 
ed of leaving it alone. One thing only I will 
say, — if any of the heathen, who die heathen, 
are saved, I believe they will owe their salva- 
tion, however little they may know it on this 
side of the grave, to the work and atonement 
of Christ. Just as infants and idiots among 
ourselves will find in the last day they owed 
all to Christ, though they never knew Him. so 
I believe it will be with the heathen, if any of 
them are saved, whether many or few. For 



238 



ONLY ONE WAY. 



this I am sure of, there is no such thing as crea- 
ture merit. My own private opinion is, that 
the highest archangel, (though of course in a 
very different way and degree from us,) will be 
found in some way to own his standing to 
Christ, and that things in heaven, as well as 
things on earth, will ultimately be found all in- 
debted to the name of Jesus. But I leave the 
case of the heathen to others, and will speak 
of matters nearer home. 

One mighty consequence then which seems 
to be learned from this text, is the utter useless- 
ness of any religion without Christ. 

There are many to be found in Christen- 
dom at this day, who have a religion of this 
kind. They would not like to be called Deists, 
but Deists they are. That there is a God, — 
that there is what they are pleased to call Prov- 
idence, — that God is merciful, — that there will 
be a state after death, — this is about the sum 
and substance of their creed. And as to the 
distinguishing tenets of Christianity, they do 
not seem to recognize them at all. Now I de- 
nounce such a system as a baseless fabric, — its 



ONLY ONE WAY. 239 

seeming foundation man's fancy, — its hopes, an 
utter delusion. The god of such people is an 
idol of their own invention, and not the glori- 
ous God of the Scriptures, — a miserably imper- 
fect being, even on their own showing, — with- 
out holiness, without justice, without any at- 
tribute but that of vague indiscriminate mercy. 
Such a religion may possibly do as a toy to 
live with ; — it is far too unreal to die with. It 
utterly fails to meet the wants of man's con- 
science. It offers no remedy. It affords no 
rest for the soles of our feet. It cannot com- 
fort, for it cannot save. Reader, bew 7 are of it, 
if you love life. Beware of a religion with- 
out Christ. 

Another consequence to be learned from the 
text is, the folly of any religion in which 
Christ has not the first place. 

I need not remind you how many hold a 
system of this kind. The Socinian tells us that 
Christ was a mere man ; that his blood had no 
more efficacy than that of another ; that His 
death on the cross was not a real atonement 
and propitiation for man's sins ; and that after 



240 ONLY ONE WAY. 

all doing is the way to heaven, and not be- 
lieving. I solemnly declare that I believe such 
a system is ruinous to men's souls. It seems 
to me to strike at the root of the whole plan 
of salvation which God has revealed in the 
Bible, and practically to nullify the greater part 
of the Scriptures. It overthrows the priest- 
hood of the Lord Jesus, and strips Him of His 
office. It converts the whole system of the 
law of Moses touching sacrifices and ordi- 
nances, into a meaningless form. It seems to 
say that the sacrifice of Cain was just as good 
as the sacrifice of Abel. It turns man adrift 
on a sea of uncertainty, by plucking from 
under him the finished work of a divine Medi- 
ator. Beware of it, Reader, no less than of 
Deism, if you love life. Beware of the least 
attempt to depreciate and undervalue Christ's 
person, offices, or work. The name whereby 
alone you and I can be saved, is a name above 
every name, and the slightest contempt poured 
upon it is an insult to the King of kings. The 
salvation of your soul has been laid by God the 
Father on Christ, and no other ; and if He were 



ONLY ONE WAY. 241 

not very God of very God, He never could 
accomplish it, — there could be no salvation 
at all. 

Another consequence to be learned from our 
text is, the great error committed by those who 
add anything to Christ, as necessary to sal- 
vation. 

It is an easy thing to profess belief in the 
Trinity, and reverence for our Lord Jesus 
Christ, and yet to make some addition to 
Christ, as the ground of hope, and so to over- 
throw the doctrine of the text as really and 
completely as by denying it altogether. 

The Church of Rome does this systemati- 
cally. She adds things over and above the 
requirements of the Gospel, of her own inven- 
tion. She speaks as if Christ's finished work 
was not a sufficient foundation for a sinner's 
soul ; and as if it was not enough to say, " Be- 
lieve on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt 
be saved." She sends men to penances and 
absolution, to masses and extreme unction, to 
fasting and bodily mortification, to the Virgin 
and the saints, — as if these things could add to 
16 



242 ONLY ONE WAY. 

the safety there is in Christ Jesus. And in 
doing this she sins against our text with a high 
hand. Let us beware of any Romish hanker- 
ing after additions to the simple way of the 
Gospel, from whatever quarter it may come. 

But I fear the Church of Rome does not stand 
alone in this matter. I fear there are thousands 
of professing Protestants, w 7 ho are often erring 
in the same direction, although of course in a 
very different degree. They get into a way 
of adding, perhaps insensibly, other names to 
the name of Christ, or attaching an importance 
to them which they never ought to receive. 
The ultra Churchman in England, who thinks 
God's covenanted mercies are tied to epis- 
copacy, — the ultra Presbyterian in Scotland, 
who cannot reconcile prelacy with an intel- 
ligent knowledge of the Gospel, — the ultra 
Free-kirk man by his side, who seems to think 
lay patronage and vital Christianity almost in- 
compatible, — the ultra Dissenter, who traces 
every evil in the Church to its connection with 
the state, and can talk of nothing but the volun- 
tary system, — the ultra Baptist, who shuts out 



ONLY ONE WAY. 243 

from the Lord's table every one who has not 
received his views of adult baptism, — the ultra 
Plymouth Brother, who believes all knowledge 
to reside with his own body, and condemns 
every one outside as a poor weak babe ; — all 
these, I say, however unwittingly, appear to 
me to have a most uncomfortable tendency to 
add to the doctrine of our text. All seem to 
me to be practically declaring that salvation is 
not to be found simply and solely in Christ. All 
seem to me to be practically adding another 
name to the name of Jesus whereby men must 
be saved, even the name of their own party 
and sect. All seem to me to be practically re- 
plying to the question, " What shall I do to be 
saved?" not merely, "Believe on the Lord 
Jesus Christ," but also, " Come and join, us" 

Now I call upon every true Christian to 
beware of such ultraism, in whatsoever form 
he may be inclined to it. In saying this, I 
would not be misunderstood. I like every one 
to be decided in his views of ecclesiastical 
matters, and to be fully persuaded of their cor- 
rectness. All I ask is, that you will not put 



244 ONLY ONE WAY. 

these things in the place of Christ, or place 
them anywhere near Him, or speak of them 
as if you thought them needful to salvation. 
However dear to us our own peculiar views 
may be, let us beware of thrusting them in be- 
tween the sinner and the Saviour. Let us be- 
ware, in short, of adding to the doctrine of the 
text. In the things of God's word, be it re- 
membered, addition, as well as subtraction, is 
a great sin. 

The last consequence which seems to me to 
be learned from our text is, the utter absurdity 
of supposing that we ought to be satisfied 
with a man's state of soul if he is only sincere. 

This is a very common heresy indeed, and 
one against which we all need to be on our 
guard. There are thousands who say, in the 
present day, " We have nothing to do with the 
opinions of others. They may perhaps be 
mistaken, though it is possible they are right 
and we are wrong; — but if they are sincere 
we hope they will be saved, even as we." And 
all this sounds liberal and charitable, and people 
like to fancy their own views are so. 



ONLY ONE WAY. 245 

Now, I believe such notions are entirely con- 
tradictory to the Bible, whatever else they may 
be. I cannot find in Scripture that any one 
ever got to heaven merely by sincerity, or was 
accepted with God if he was only earnest in 
maintaining his own views. The priests of 
Baal were sincere when they cut themselves 
with knives and lancets till the blood gushed 
out ; but still that did not prevent Elijah from 
commanding them to be treated as wicked 
idolaters. Manasseh, king of Judah, was doubt- 
less sincere when he burned his children in the 
fire to Moloch ; but who does not know that 
he brought on himself great guilt by so doing ? 
The Apostle Paul, when a Pharisee, was sin- 
cere while he made havoc of the Church ; but 
when his eyes were opened he mourned over 
this as a special wickedness. Let us beware 
of allowing for a moment, that sincerity is 
everything, and that we have no right to think 
ill of a man's spiritual state, because of the 
opinions he holds, if he is only earnest in hold- 
ing them. On such principles the Druidical 
sacrifices, the car of Juggernaut, the Indian 



246 ONLY OKB WAY. 

Suttees, the systematic murders of the Thugs, 
the fires of Smithfield, might each and all be 
defended. It will not stand. It will not bear 
the test of Scripture. Once allow such no- 
tions to be true, and you may as well throw 
your Bible aside altogether. Sincerity is not 
Christ, and therefore sincerity cannot put 
away sin. 

I dare be sure these consequences sound very 
unpleasant to the minds of some who may read 
them. But I tell you of them advisedly and 
deliberately. I say calmly that a religion 
without Christ, — a religion that takes away 
from Christ, — a religion that adds anything to 
Christ, — a religion that puts sincerity in the 
place of Christ, — all are dangerous, — all are to 
be avoided, and all are alike contrary to the 
doctrine of our text. 

You may not like this. I am sorry for it. 
You think me uncharitable, — illiberal, — nar- 
row-minded, — bigoted, and so forth. Be it so. 
But you will not tell me my doctrine is not 
that of the word of God, and of the Church of 
England, whose minister I am. That Doctrine 



ONLY ONE WAY. 247 

is salvation in Christ to the very uttermost, — ■ 
but out of Christ no salvation at all. 

I feel it a duty to bear my solemn testimony 
against the spirit of the day you live in ; to 
warn you against its infection. It is not 
Atheism I fear so much in the present times as 
Pantheism. It is not the system which says 
nothing is true, so much as the system which 
says everything is true. It is not the system 
which says there is no Saviour, so much as the 
system which says there are many Saviours, 
and many ways to peace. It is the system 
which is so liberal, that it dares not say any- 
thing is false. It is the system which is so 
charitable, that it will allow everything to be 
true. It is the system which seems ready to 
allow honor to others as well as our Lord Jesus 
Christ, and to hope well of all men, however 
contradictory their religious opinions may be. 
Confucius and Zoroaster, — Socrates and Ma- 
homet, — the Indian Brahmins and the African 
devil- worshippers, — Arius and Pelagius, — Igna- 
tius Loyola and Socinus, all are to be treated 
respectfully, none are to be condemned. It is 



248 ONLY ONE WAY. 

the system which bids us smile complacently on 
all the creeds and systems of religion, — the 
Bible and the Koran, — the Hindoo Vedas and 
the Persian Zendavesta, — the old wives' fables 
of Rabbinical writers and the rubbish of Pat- 
ristic traditions, — the Racovian Catechism and 
the Thirty-nine Articles, — the Revelations of 
Emanuel Swedenborg and the Book of Mor- 
mon of Joseph Smith ; — all are to be listened 
to, none are to be denounced as lies. It is the 
system which is so scrupulous about the feel- 
ings of others, that we are never to say they 
are wrong. It is the system which is so lib- 
eral, that it calls a man a bigot, if he dares to 
say, "I know my views are right." This is 
the system, this is the tone of feeling which I 
fear in this day. This is the system which I 
desire emphatically to testify against and de- 
nounce. 

What is it but a bowing down before a great 
idol, speciously called liberality ? What is it 
all but a sacrificing of truth upon the altar of a 
caricature of charity ? Beware of it, Reader, 
— beware that the rushing stream of public 



ONLY ONE WAY. 249 

opinion does not carry you away. Beware of 
it, if you believe the Bible. Beware of it, if 
you are a consistent member of the Church of 
England. Has the Lord God spoken to us in 
the Bible, or has He not ? Has He shown us 
the way of salvation plainly in that Bible, or 
has He not ? Has He declared to us the dan- 
gerous state of all out of that way, or has He 
not ? Gird up the loins of your mind, and look 
these questions fairly in the face, and give them 
an honest answer. Tell us that there is some 
other inspired book beside the Bible, and then 
we shall know what you mean. Tell us that 
the whole Bible is not inspired, and then we 
shall know where to meet you. But grant for 
a moment that the Bible, the whole Bible, and 
nothing but the Bible is God's truth, and then 
I know not in what way you can escape the 
doctrine of the text. From the liberality which 
says everybody is right, — from the charity 
which forbids you to say anybody is wrong, — 
from the peace which is bought at the expense 
of truth, may the good Lord deliver you ! 
I speak for myself. — I find no resting-place 



250 ONLY ONE WAY. 

between downright evangelical Christianity and 
downright infidelity — whatever others may 
find. I see no half-way house between them, 
or houses that are roofless and cannot shelter 
my weary soul. I can see consistency in an 
infidel, however much I may pity him. I can 
see consistency in the full maintenance of evan- 
gelical truth. But as to a middle course be- 
tween the two, I cannot see it, and I say so 
plainly. Let it be called illiberal and unchar- 
itable, I can hear God's voice nowhere except 
in the Bible, and I can see no salvation for sin- 
ners in the Bible excepting through Jesus 
Christ. In Him I see abundance. Out of Him 
I see none. And as for those who hold reli- 
gions in which Christ is not all, whoever they 
may be, I have a most uncomfortable feeling 
about their safety. I do not for a moment say 
that none of them are saved, but I say that 
those who are saved are saved by their dis- 
agreement with their own principles, and in 
spite of their own system. The man who wrote 
the famous line, 

" He can't be wrong whose life is in the right, 



ONLY ONE WAY. 251 

was a great poet, undoubtedly, but he was a 
wretched divine. 

Let me conclude with a few words, by way 
of application. 

First of all, if there is no salvation except- 
ing in Christ, make sure that you have an in- 
terest in that salvation yourself. Do not be 
content with hearing and approving, and as- 
senting to the truth, and go no further. Seek 
to have a personal interest in this salvation. 
Lay hold by faith for your own soul. Rest 
not till you know and feel that you have got 
actual possession of that peace with God, 
which Jesus offers, and that Christ is yours 
and you are Christ's. If there were two or 
three or more ways of getting to heaven, there 
would be no necessity for pressing this matter 
upon you. But if there is only one way you 
will hardly wonder that I say " make sure that 
you are in it." 

Secondly, if there is no salvation excepting 
in Christ, try to do good to the souls of all who 
do not know Him as a Saviour. There are 
millions in this miserable condition, — millions 



252 



ONLY ONE WAY. 



in foreign lands, — millions in your own country, 
— millions who are not trusting in Christ. You 
ought to feel for them, if you are a true Chris- 
tian; — you ought to pray for them; — you ought 
to work for them, while there is yet time. Do 
you really believe that Christ is the only way 
to heaven ? — then live as if you believed it. 

Look round the circle of your own relatives 
and friends. Count them up one by one, and 
think how many of them are not yet in Christ. 
Try to do good to them in some way or other. 
Act as a man should act who believes his 
friends to be in danger. Do not be content 
with their being kind and amiable, gentle and 
good-tempered, moral and courteous, — be miser- 
able about them till they come to Christ, and 
trust in Him, — for miserable you ought to be. 
Let nobody alone who is out of Christ, if only 
you have opportunities of reaching him. I 
know all this may sound like enthusiasm and 
fanaticism. I wish there was more of it in the 
world. Anything, I am sure, is better than a 
quiet indifference about the souls of others, as 
if everybody was in the way to heaven. Noth- 



ONLY ONE WAY. 253 

ing, to my mind, so proves our little faith, as 
our little feeling about the spiritual condition 
of those around us. 

Thirdly, if there is no salvation excepting in 
Christ, let us love all who love the Lord Jesus 
in sincerity and exalt Him as their Saviour, 
whoever they may be. Let us not draw back 
and look shy on others, because they do not 
see eye to eye with ourselves in everything. 
Whether a man be a Free-kirk-man or an In- 
dependent, a Wesleyan or a Baptist, let us love 
him if he loves Christ, and gives Christ His 
rightful place. We are all fast travelling to- 
wards a place where names and forms and 
Church-government will be nothing, and Christ 
will be all. Let us get ready for that place 
betimes, by loving all who are in the way that 
leads to it. 

This is the true charity, to believe all things, 
and hope all things, so long as we see Bi- 
ble doctrines maintained, and Christ exalted. 
Christ must be the single standard by which 
all opinions must be measured. Let us honor 
all who honor Him. But let us never forget 



254 ONLY ONE WAY. 

that the same Apostle Paul who wrote about 
charity, says also, " If any man love not the 
Lord Jesus Christ, let him be Anathema." 
(1 Cor. xvi. 22.) If our charity and liberality 
are wider than that of the Bible, they are 
worth nothing at all. Indiscriminate love is no- 
love at all, and indiscriminate approbation of 
all religious opinions, is only a new name for 
infidelity. Let us hold out the right hand to 
all who love the Lord Jesus, but let us beware 
how we go beyond this. 

Lastly, if there is no salvation excepting by 
Christ, you must not be surprised if ministers 
of the Gospel preach much about Him. We 
cannot tell you too much about the Name 
which is above every name. You cannot hear 
of Him too often. You may hear too much 
about controversy in our sermons, — you may 
hear too much of men and books, of works and 
duties, of forms and ceremonies, of sacraments 
and ordinances. But there is one subject 
which you never hear too much of, — you can 
never hear too much of Christ. 

When we are wearied of preaching Him, 



ONLY ONE WAY. 255 

we are false ministers. When you are wea- 
ried of hearing of Him, your souls are in an 
unhealthy state. When we have preached Him 
all our lives, the half of His excellence will 
remain untold. When you see Him face to 
face in the day of His appearing, you will find 
there was more in Him than your heart ever 
conceived. 

Let me leave you with the words of an old 
writer, to which I desire humbly to subscribe : 
— " I know no true religion but Christianity ; 
no true Christianity but the doctrine of Christ, 
— the doctrine of His divine person, of His 
divine office, of His divine righteousness, and 
of His divine Spirit, which all that are His 
receive. I know no true ministers of Christ, 
but such as make it their business, in their 
calling, to commend Jesus Christ, in His saving 
fulness of grace and glory, to the faith and love 
of men ; — no true Christian but one united to 
Christ by faith and love, unto the glorifying 
of the name of Jesus Christ in the beauty 
of Gospel holiness. Ministers and Christians 



256 ONLY ONE WAY. 

of this spirit have been for many years my 
brethren and companions, and I hope shall 
ever be, whithersoever the hand of God shall 
lead me." 



(Cjjriat ntii tjff tan tflmra. 



"and one of the mvlefactors which were hanged 
railed on him, saying, if thou be christ, save thyself 

AND US. 

"BUT THE OTHER ANSWERING REBUKED HIM, SAYING, DOST 
NOT THOU FEAR GOD, SEEING THOU ART IN THE SAME CON- 
DEMNATION ? 

"AND WE INDEED JUSTLY: FOR WE RECEIVE THE DUE RE- 
WARD OF OUR DEEDS I BUT THIS MAN HATH DONE NOTHING 
AMISS. 

" AND HE SAID UNTO JESUS, LORD, REMEMBER ME WHEN THOU 
COMEST INTO THY KINGDOM. 

"AND JESUS SAID UNTO HIM, VERILY I SAY UNTO THEE, TO- 
DAY SHALT THOU BE WITH ME IN PARADISE." 

Luke xxiii. 39-43 

Reader, — 

You know these verses, I suppose. It 
would be strange indeed if you did not. Few 
passages in the New Testament are more famil- 
iar to men's ears. 

And it is right and good that these verses 
should be well known. They have comforted 
many troubled minds. They have brought 
17 



258 CHRIST AND THE TWO THIEVES. 

peace to many uneasy consciences. They 
have been a healing balm to many wounded 
hearts. They have been a medicine to many 
sin-sick souls. They have smoothed down not 
a few dying pillows. Wherever the Gospel of 
Christ is preached, they will always be hon- 
ored, loved, and had in remembrance. 

Reader, I wish to speak to you about these 
verses. Listen to me while I try to unfold the 
leading lessons which they are meant to teach. 
I cannot see the state of your heart before God, 
but I can see truths in this passage which no 
man can ever know too well. 

I. First of all you are meant to learn from 
these verses Christ's power and willingness to 
save sinners. 

This is the main doctrine to be gathered from 
the history of the penitent thief. It teaches 
you that which ought to be music in the ears 
of all who hear it, — it teaches you that Jesus 
Christ is mighty to save. 

I ask you if any man's case could look more 
hopeless and desperate, than that of this peni- 
tent thief once did? 



CHRIST AND THE TWO THIEVES. 259 

He was a wicked man — a malefactor, — a 
thief, if not a murderer. We know this, for 
such only were crucified. He was suffering 
a just punishment for breaking the laws. And 
as he had lived wicked, so he seemed deter- 
mined to die wicked, — for when he first was 
crucified he railed on our Lord. 

And he was a dying man. He hung there, 
nailed to a cross, from which he was never to 
come down alive. He had no longer power to 
stir hand or foot. His hours were numbered. 
The grave was ready for him. There was but 
a step between him and death. 

If ever there was a soul hovering on the 
brink of hell, it was the soul of this thief. If 
ever there was a case that seemed lost, gone, 
and past recovery, it was his. If ever there 
was a child of Adam whom the devil made sure 
of as his own, it was this man. 

But see now what happened. He ceased to 
rail and blaspheme, as he had done at the first. 
He began to speak in another manner alto- 
gether. He turned to our blessed Lord in 
prayer. He prayed Jesus to " remember him 



260 CHRIST AND THE TWO THIEVES. 

when He came into His kingdom." He asked 
that his soul might be cared for, his sins par- 
doned, and himself thought of in another world. 
Truly this was a wonderful change. 

And then mark what kind of answer he re- 
ceived. Some would have said he was too 
wicked a man to be saved. But it was not so. 
Some would have fancied it was too late, the 
door was shut, and there was no room for 
mercy. But it proved not too late at all. The 
Lord Jesus returned him an immediate answer, 
— spoke kindly to him, — assured him he should 
be with Him that day in paradise, — pardoned 
him completely — cleansed him thoroughly from 
his sins — received him graciously — justified 
him freely — raised him from the gates of hell, 
— gave him a title to glory. Of all the multi- 
tude of saved souls, none ever received so 
glorious an assurance of his own salvation, as 
did this penitent thief. Go over the whole list 
from Genesis to Revelation, and you will find 
none who had such words spoken to them as 
these, "To-day shalt thou be with me in 
paradise.''' 



CHEIST AND THE TWO THIEVES. 261 

Reader, the Lord Jesus never gave so com- 
plete a proof of His power and will to save, as 
He did upon this occasion. In the day when 
He seemed most weak, He showed that he was 
a strong deliverer. In the hour when his body 
was racked with pain, He showed that He 
could feel tenderly for others. At the time 
when He Himself was dying, he conferred on 
a sinner eternal life. 

Now have I not a right to say, " Jesus is 
able to save to the uttermost all them that 
come unto God through Him ?" Behold the 
proof of it. If ever sinner was too far gone to 
be saved, it was this thief. Yet he was plucked 
as a brand from the fire. 

Have I not a right to say. " Christ will re- 
ceive any poor sinner who comes to Him with 
the prayer of faith, and cast out none ?" Be- 
hold the proof of it. If ever there w r as one that 
seemed too bad to be received, this was the 
man. Yet the door of mercy was wide open 
even for him. 

Have I not a right to say, " By grace ye may 
be saved through faith, not of works, — fear not, 



262 CHEIST AND THE TWO THIEVES. 

only believe ?" Behold the proof of it. This 
thief was never baptized. He belonged to no 
visible church. He never received the Lord's 
Supper. He never did any work for Christ. 
He never gave money to Christ's cause, — But 
he had faith, and so he was saved. 

Have I not a right to say, " The youngest 
faith will save a man's soul, if it only be true ?" 
Behold the proof of it. This man's faith was 
only one day old, but it led him to Christ, and 
preserved him from hell. 

Why then should any man or woman de- 
spair with such a passage as this in the Bible ? 
Jesus is a physician who can cure hopeless 
cases. He can quicken dead souls, and call 
the things which be not as though they were. 

Never should any man or woman despair ! 
Jesus is still the same now that He was eighteen 
hundred years ago. The keys of death and 
hell are in His hand. When He opens none 
can shut.* 

* " Saviour, what a precedent is this of thy free and 
powerful grace ! Where thou wilt give, what unworthiness 
can bar us from thy mercy ? Whoa thou wilt give, what 



CHRIST AND THE TWO THIEVES. 263 

What though your sins be more in number 
than the hairs of your head ? What though 
your evil habits have grown with your growth, 
and strengthened with your strength ? What 
though you have hitherto hated good, and loved 
evil, all the days of your life ? These things 
are sad indeed ; but there is hope even for you. 
Christ can heal you. Christ can cleanse you. 
Christ can raise you from your low estate. 
Heaven is not shut against you. Christ is able 
to admit you, if you will humbly commit your 
soul into His hands. 

Reader, are your sins forgiven ? If not, I 
set before you this day a full and free salva- 
tion. I invite you to follow the steps of the 
penitent thief, — come to Christ, and live. I 
tell you that Jesus is very pitiful, and of tender 
mercy. I tell you He can do everything that 
your soul requires. Though your sins be as 
scarlet, He can make them white as snow ; 
though they be red like crimson, they shall be 

time can prejudice our vocation ? Who can despair of thy 
goodness when he, that in the morning was posting to hell, 
is in the evening with thee in paradise ?" — Bishop Hall. 



264 CHRIST AND THE TWO THIEVES. 

as wool. Why should you not be saved as 
well as another? Come unto Christ by faith, 
and live. 

Reader, are you a true believer ? If you 
are, you ought to glory in Christ. Glory not 
in your own faith, your own feelings, your own 
knowledge, your own prayers, your own amend- 
ment, your own diligence. Glory in nothing 
but Christ. Alas! the best of us knows but 
little of that merciful and mighty Saviour. We 
do not exalt Him and glory in Him enough. 
Let us pray that we may see more of the ful- 
ness there is in Him. 

Reader, do you ever try to do good to others ? 
If you do, remember to tell them about Christ. 
Tell the young, tell the poor, tell the aged, tell 
the ignorant, tell the sick, tell the dying, — tell 
them all about Christ. Tell them of His power, 
and tell them of His love. Tell them of His 
doings, and tell them of His feelings. Tell 
them of what He has done for the chief of sin- 
ners. Tell them what He is willing to do to 
the last day of time. Tell it them over and 
over again. Never be tired of speaking of 



CHEIST AND THE TWO THIEVES. 265 

Christ. Say to them broadly and fully, freely 
and unconditionally, unreservedly and undoubt-- 
ingly, " Come unto Christ as the penitent thief 
did, — come unto Christ, and you shall be saved." 

II. The second lesson you are meant to 
learn from this passage is this, If some are saved 
in the very hour of death, others are not. 

This is a truth that never ought to be passed 
over, and I dare not leave it unnoticed. It is 
a truth that stands out plainly in the sad end 
of the other malefactor, and is only too often 
forgotten. 

What became of the other thief who was 
crucified ? Why did he not turn from sin, and 
call upon the Lord ? Why did he remain 
hardened and impenitent ? Why was he not 
saved ? It is useless to try to answer such 
questions. Let us be content to take the fact as 
we find it, and see what it is meant to teach us. 

We have no right whatever to say this thief 
was a worse man than his companion. There 
is nothing to prove it. Both plainly were wick- 
ed men. Both were receiving the due reward 
of their deeds. Both hung by the side of our 



266 CHRIST AND THE TWO THIEVES. 

Lord Jesus Christ. Both heard Him pray for 
His murderers. Both saw Him suffer patiently. 
But while one repented, the other remained 
hardened. While one began to pray, the other 
went on railing. While one was converted in 
his last hours, the other died a bad man as he 
had lived. While one was taken to paradise, 
the other went to his own place, the place of 
the devil and his angels. 

Now these things are written for our warn- 
ing. There is warning as well as comfort in 
these verses, and that very solemn warning too. 

They tell me loudly, that though some may 
repent and be converted on their death-beds, it 
does not at all follow that all will. A death- 
bed is not always a saving time. 

They tell me loudly, that two men may have 
the same opportunities of getting good for their 
souls, may be placed in the same position, see 
the same things, and hear the same things, — 
and yet only one shall take advantage of them, 
repent, believe, and be saved. 

They tell me, above all, that repentance and 
faith are the gifts of Qod, and are not in a 



CHEIST AND THE TWO THIEVES. 267 

man's own power ; and that if any one flatters 
himself he can repent at his own time, choose 
his own season, seek the Lord when he please, 
and, like the penitent thief, be saved at the very 
last, — he may find at length that he is greatly 
deceived. 

And it is good and profitable to bear this in 
mind. There is an immense amount of delu- 
sion in the world on this very subject. I see 
many allowing life to slip away, all unprepared 
to die. I see many allowing that they ought 
to repent, but always putting off their own re- 
pentance. And I believe one grand reason is, 
that most men suppose they can turn to God 
just when they like. They wrest the parable 
of the laborer in the vineyard, which speaks of 
the eleventh hour, and use it as it never was 
meant to be used. They dwell on the pleasant 
part of the verses I am now considering, and 
forget the rest. They talk of the thief that 
went to paradise, and was saved, and forget 
the one who died as he had lived, — and was 
lost.* 

* " He that puts off his repentance and seeking for pardon 



268 CHEIST AND THE TWO THIEYES. 

Reader, take heed that you do not fall into 
this mistake. Look at the history of men in 
the Bible, and see how often these notions I 
have been speaking of are contradicted. Mark 
well how many proofs there are that two men 
may have the same light offered them, and 
only one use it ; and that no one has a right 
to take liberties with God's mercy, and pre- 
sume he will be able to repent just when he 
likes. 

Look at Saul and David. They lived about 
the same time. They rose from the same rank 
in life. They were called to the same position 
in the world. They enjoyed the ministry of 

to the very last, in reliance upon this example, does but 
tempt God, and turn that to his own poison which God in- 
tended for better ends." 

" The mercies of God are never recorded in Scripture for 
man's presumption, and the failings of men never for imita- 
tion." — Lightfoot. Sermon. 1684. 

" Most ungrateful and foolish is the conduct of those who 
take encouragement from the penitent thief to put off repent- 
ance to a dying moment; — most ungrateful in perverting the 
grace of their Redeemer into an occasion of renewing their 
provocations against Him ; — and most foolish to imagine that 
what our Lord did in so singular circumstances, is to be 
drawn into an ordinary precedent." — Doddridge. 



CHRIST AND THE TWO THIEVES. 269 

the same prophet, Samuel. They reigned the 
same number of years. — Yet one was saved, 
and the other lost. 

Look at Sergius Paulus and Gallio. They 
were both Roman governors. They were both 
wise and prudent men in their generation. 
They both heard the Apostle Paul preach. But 
one believed, and was baptized, — the other 
" cared for none of these things." (Acts xviii. 17.) 

Look at the world around you. See what is 
going on continually under your eyes. , Two 
sisters will often attend the same ministry, listen 
to the same truths, hear the same sermons ; 
and yet only one shall be converted to God, 
while the other remains totally unmoved. Two 
friends often read the same religious book. 
One is so moved by it, that he gives up all for 
Christ : the other sees nothing at all in it, and 
continues the same as before. Hundreds have 
read Doddridge's Rise and Progress without 
profit. With Wilberforce it was one of the 
beginnings of spiritual life. Thousands have 
read Wilberforce's Practical View of Christi- 
anity, and laid it down again unaltered ; — from 



270 CHRIST AND THE TWO THIEVES. 

the time Legh Richmond read it he became 
another man. No man has any warrant for 
saying, Salvation is in my own power. 

Reader, I do not pretend to explain these 
things. I only put them before you as great 
facts. And I ask you to consider them well. 

You must not misunderstand me. I do not 
want to discourage you. I say these things in 
all affection to give you warning of danger. I 
do not say them to drive you back from heav- 
en ; — L say them rather to draw you on, and 
bring you to Christ while He can be found. 

I want you to beware of presumption. Do 
not abuse God's mercy and compassion. Do 
not continue in sin,. I beseech you, and think 
you can repent, and believe, and be saved, just 
when you like, when you please, when you will, 
and when you choose. I would always set 
before you an open door. I would always say, 
while there is life there is hope. But if you 
would be wise, put nothing off that concerns 
your soul. 

I want you to beware of letting slip good 
thoughts and godly convictions, if you have 



CHEIST AND THE TWO THIEVES. 271 

them. Cherish them and nourish them, lest 
you lose them forever. Make the most of 
them, lest they take to themselves wings and 
flee away. Have you an inclination to begin 
praying ? Put it in practice at once. Have 
you an idea of beginning really to serve 
Christ ? Set about it at once. Are you en- 
joying any spiritual light ? See that you live 
up to your light. Trifle not with opportunities, 
lest the day come when you will want to use 
them, and not be able. Linger not, lest you 
become wise too late. 

You may say, perhaps, " It is never too late 
to repent." I answer, That is right enough 
but late repentance is seldom true. And I sa^ 
further, you cannot be certain if you put off 
repenting, you will repent at all. 

You may say, " Why should I be afraid ? — 
the penitent thief was saved." I answer, That 
is true, but look again at the passage, which 
tells you that the other thief was lost. 

III. The third lesson you are meant to learn 
from these verses is this ; the Spirit always 
leads saved souls in one way. 



272 CHRIST AND THE TWO THIEVES. 

This is a point that deserves particular at- 
tention, and is often overlooked. Men look at 
the broad fact that the penitent thief was 
saved when he was dying, and they look no 
further. 

They do not consider the evidences this 
thief left behind him. They do not observe the 
abundant proofs he gave of the work of the 
Spirit in his heart. And these proofs I wish to 
trace out. I wish to show you that the Spirit 
always works in one way, and that whether 
He converts a man in an hour — as He did the 
penitent thief — or whether by slow degrees, as 
he does others, the steps by which He leads 
souls to heaven are always the same. 

Listen to me, Reader, and I will try to make 
this clear to you. I want you to shake off the 
common notion, that there is some easy royal 
road to heaven from a dying-bed. I want you 
thoroughly to understand that every saved soul 
goes through the same experience, and that 
the leading principles of the penitent thief's 
religion were just the same as those of the old- 
est saint that ever lived. 



CHRIST AND THE TWO THIEVES. 273 

See then, for one thing, how strong was the 
faith of this man. 

He called Jesus, " Lord." He declared his 
belief that he would have a kingdom. He be- 
lieved that He was able to give him eternal 
life and glory, and in this belief prayed to Him. 
He maintained His innocence of all the 
charges brought against Him : " This man," 
said he, " hath done nothing amiss." Others 
perhaps may have thought the Lord innocent, 
— none said so openly but this poor dying 
man. 

And when did all this happen ? It happen- 
ed when the whole nation had denied Christ, 
— shouting, "Crucify him, crucify him; we 
have no king but Caesar," — when the chief 
priests and pharisees had condemned and founa 
Him guilty of death, — when even His own 
disciples had forsaken Him and fled, — when He 
was hanging, faint, bleeding, and dying on the 
cross, numbered with transgressors, and count- 
ed accursed. This was the hour when the 
thief believed in Christ, and prayed to Him. 
18 



274 CHEIST AND THE TWO THIEVES. 

Surely such faith was never seen since the 
world began.* 

The disciples had seen mighty signs and 
miracles. They had seen the dead raised with 
a word, and lepers healed with a touch, — 

* " I know not that since the creation of the world there 
ever was a more remarkable and striking example of faith." 
— Calvin's Commentary on the Gospels. 

"A great faith that can see the sun under so thick a 
cloud; that can discover a Christ, a Saviour, under such a 
poor, scorned, despised, crucified Jesus, and call him Lord. 

" A great faith that could see Christ's kingdom through 
His cross, and grave, and death, and when there was so 
little sign of a kingdom, and pray to be remembered in that 
kingdom." — Liyhtfoot. Sermon. 1684. 

" The penitent thief was the first confessor of Christ's 
heavenly kingdom, — the first martyr who bore testimony 
to the holiness of His sufferings, — and the first apologist 
for His oppressed innocence." — Quesnel on the Gospels. 

" Probably there are few saints in glory who ever honored 
Christ more illustriously than this dying sinner." — Doddridge. 

" Is this the voice of a thief or a disciple ? Give me leave, 
Saviour, to borrow thine own words, ' Yerily I have not 
found so great faith, no not in Israel.' He saw thee hanging 
miserably by him, and yet styles thee Lord. He saw thee 
dying, and yet talks of thy kingdom. He felt himself dying, 
yet talks of a future remembrance. faith, stronger than 
death, which can look beyond the cross at a crown ; — beyond 
dissolution at a remembrance of life and glory ! Which of 
thine eleven were heard to speak so gracious a word to thee 
in these thy last pangs ?" — Bishop Hall. 



CHEIST AND THE TWO THIEVES. 275 

the blind receiving sight, — the dumb made to 
speak, — the lame made to walk. They had 
seen thousands fed with a few loaves and fishes. 
They had seen their Master walking on the 
water as on dry land. They had all of them 
heard Him speak as no man ever spake, and 
hold out promises of good things yet to come. 
They had some of them had a foretaste of His 
glory in the mount of transfiguration. Doubt- 
less their faith w r as the gift of God, but still they 
had much to help it. 

The dying thief saw none of the things I 
have mentioned. He only saw our Lord in 
agony, and in weakness, in suffering and in 
pain. He saw Him undergoing a dishonorable 
punishment, deserted, mocked, despised, blas- 
phemed. He saw Him rejected by all the great, 
and wise, and noble of His own people, — His 
strength dried up like a potsherd, his life draw- 
ing to the grave. (Psalm xxii. 15. lxxxviii. 3.) 
He saw no sceptre, no royal crown, no outward 
dominion, no glory, no majesty, no power, no 
signs of might. And yet the dying thief be- 
lieved and looked forward to Christ's kingdom. 



276 CHRIST AND THE TWO THIEVES. 

Reader, would you know if you have the 
Spirit? Then mark the question I put to you 
this day : — Where is your faith in Christ ? 

See, for another thing, what a right sense 
of sin the thief had. He says to his com- 
panion, " We receive the due reward of our 
deeds." He acknowledges his own ungodli- 
ness, and the justice of his punishment. He 
makes no attempt to justify himself, or excuse 
his wickedness. He speaks like a man hum- 
bled and self-abased by the remembrance of past 
iniquities. This is what all God's children feel. 
They are ready to allow they are poor hell- 
deserving sinners. They can say with their 
hearts, as well as with their lips, " We have left 
undone the things that w r e ought to have done, 
and we have done those things that we ought 
not to have done, and there is no health in us." 

Reader, would you know if you had the 
Spirit ? Then mark my question : — Do you 
feel your sin ? 

See, for another thing, what brotherly love 
the thief showed to his companion. He tried 
to stop his railing and blaspheming, and bring 



CHRIST AND THE TWO THIEVES. 277 

him to a better mind. "Dost thou not fear 
God," he says, "seeing thou art in the same 
condemnation ?" There is no surer mark of 
grace than this. Grace shakes a man out of 
his selfishness, and makes him feel for the souls 
of others. When the Samaritan woman was 
converted, she left her water pot, and ran to 
the city, saying, " Come see a man that told 
me all things that ever I did ; is not this the 
Christ?" (John iv. 29.) When Saul was con- 
verted, immediately he went to the synagogue 
at Damascus, and testified to his brethren of 
Israel, that Jesus was the Christ. (Acts ix. 20.) 

Reader, would you know if you had the 
Spirit ? Then where is your charity and love 
to souls ? 

In one word, you see in the penitent thief a 
finished work of the Holy Ghost. Every part 
of the believer's character may be traced in 
him. Short as his life was after conversion, he 
found time to leave abundant evidence that he 
was a child of God. His faith, — his prayer, — 
his humility, — his brotherly love, — are unmis- 
takable witnesses of the reality of his repent- 



278 CHEIST AND THE TWO THIEVES. 

ance. He was not a penitent in name only, 
but in deed and in truth. 

Let no man therefore think, because the 
penitent thief was saved, that men can be 
saved without leaving any evidence of the 
Spirit's work. Let such an one consider well 
what evidence this man left behind, and take 
care. 

It is mournful to hear what people sometimes 
say about what they call death-bed evidences. 
It is perfectly fearful to observe how little satis- 
fies some persons, and how easily they can 
persuade themselves that their friends are gone 
to heaven. They will tell you when their rela- 
tion is dead and gone, that "he made such a 
beautiful prayer one day, — or that he talked so 
well, — or that he was so sorry for his old ways, 
and intended to live so differently if he got 
better, — or that he craved nothing in this 
world, — or that he liked people to read to him, 
and pray with him." And because they have 
this to go upon they seem to have a comfor- 
table hope that he is saved. Christ may never 
have been named. — the way of salvation may 



CHRIST AND THE TWO THIEVES. 279 

never have been in the least mentioned. But 
it matters not ; there was a little talk of re- 
ligion, and so they are content. 

Now I have no desire to hurt the feelings of 
any one who reads this paper, but I must and 
will speak plainly on this subject. 

Once for all let me say that, as a general 
rule, nothing is so unsatisfactory as death-bed 
evidences. The things that men say, and the 
feelings they express when sick and frightened, 
are little to be depended on. Often, too often, 
they are the result of fear, and do not spring 
from the ground of the heart. Often, too often, 
they are things said by rote, caught from the 
lips of ministers and anxious friends, but evi- 
dently not felt. And nothing can prove all this 
more clearly than the well-known fact, that the 
great majority of persons who make promises 
of amendment on a sick-bed, if tb^y recover, 
go back to sin and tiie world. 

When a man has lived a life of thoughtless- 
ness and folly, I want something more than a 
few fair words, and good wishes, to satisfy me 
about his soul when he comes to his death-bed 



280 CHRIST AND THE TWO THIEVES. 

It is not enough for me that he will let me read 
the Bible to him, and pray by his bedside ; that 
he says, "he has not thought so much as he 
ought of religion, and he thinks he should be a 
different man if he got better." All this does 
not content me, — it does not make me feel hap- 
py about his state. It is very well as far as it 
goes, but it is not conversion. It is very well 
in its way, but it is not faith in Christ. Until 
I see conversion, and faith in Christ, I cannot 
and dare not feel satisfied. Others may feel 
satisfied, if they please, and after their friend's 
death say, they hope he has gone to heaven. 
For my part I would rather say nothing at all. 
I would be content with the least measure of 
repentance and faith in a dying man, even 
though it were no bigger than a grain of mus- 
tard seed ; but to be content with anything less 
than repentance and faith seems to me next 
door to infidelity. 

Reader, what kind of evidence do you mean 
to leave behind as to the state of your soul ? 
Take example by the penitent thief, and you 
will do well. 



CHEIST AND THE TWO THIEVES. 281 

When we have carried you to your narrow 
bed, let us not have to hunt up stray words, 
and scraps of religion, in order to make out 
that you were a true believer. Let us not 
have to say in a hesitating way one to an- 
other, " I trust he is happy, he talked so nicely 
one day, and he seemed so pleased with a 
chapter in the Bible on another occasion, and 
he liked such a person who is a good man." 
Let us be able to speak decidedly as to your 
condition. Let us have some standing proof 
of your penitence, your faith, and your holiness, 
that none shall be able for a moment to ques- 
tion your state. Depend on it, without this, 
those you leave behind can feel no solid com- 
fort about your soul. We may use the form 
of religion at your burial, and express charita- 
ble hopes. We may meet you at the church- 
yard gate, and say, " Blessed are the dead that 
die in the Lord." But this will not alter youi 
condition. If you die without conversion to 
God, — without repentance, — and without faith, 
your funeral will only be the funeral of a lost 
soul. 



282 CHRIST AND THE TWO THIEVES. 

IV. You are meant in the next place to 
learn from these verses that believers in Christ 
when they die, are with the Lord. 

This you may gather from our Lord's words 
to the penitent thief, " This day shalt thou be 
with me in paradise." And you have an ex- 
pression very like it in the Epistle to the Phil- 
ippians, where Paul says he has a desire to 
"depart and be with Christ." (Phil. i. 23.) 

I shall say but little on this subject. I would 
simply lay it before you for your own private 
meditations. To my own mind it is very full 
of comfort and peace. 

Believers after death are " with Christ." That 
answers many a difficult question, which oth- 
erwise might puzzle man's busy, restless mind. 
The abode of dead saints, their joys, their feel- 
ings, their happiness, all seems met by this sim- 
ple expression, — They are with Christ. 

I cannot enter into full explanations about 
the state of departed believers. It is a high 
and deep subject, such as man's mind can nei- 
ther grasp nor fathom. I know their happiness 
falls short of what it will be when their bodies 



CHEIST AND THE TWO THIEVES. 288 

are raised again, and Jesus returns to earth. 
Yet I know also they enjoy a blessed rest, — a 
rest from labor, — a rest from sorrow, — a rest 
from pain, — and a rest from sin. But it does 
not follow because I cannot explain these 
things, that I am not persuaded they are far 
happier than they ever were on earth. I see 
their happiness in this very passage, " They are 
with Christ," and when I see that I see enough. 

If the sheep are with the Shepherd, — if the 
members are with the Head, — if the children 
of Christ's family are with Him who loved 
them and carried them all the days of their pil- 
grimage on earth, all must be well, all must be 
right. 

I cannot describe what kind of a place para- 
dise is, but I ask no brighter view of it than 
this, that Christ is there.*' All other things in 

* " We ought not to enter into curious and subtle argu- 
ments about the place of paradise. Let us rest satisfied with 
knowing that those who are engrafted by faith into the body 
of Christ are partakers of life, and there enjoy after death a 
blessed and joyful rest, until the perfect glory of the heavenly 
life is fully manifested by the coming of Christ." — Calvin's 
Commentary on the Gospels. 



284 CHRIST AND THE TWO THIEVES. 

the picture which imagination draws of para- 
dise are nothing in comparison of this. How 
He is there, and in what way He is there, I 
know not. Let me only see Christ in paradise 
when my eyes close in death, and that suffices 
me. Well does the Psalmist say, " In thy 
presence is fulness of joy." It was a true say- 
ing of a dying girl, when her mother tried to 
comfort her by describing what paradise would 
be, " There/' she said to the child, " there you 
will have no pains, and no sickness ; there you 
will see your brothers and sisters who have 
gone before you, and will be always happy." 
" Ah ! mother," was the reply, " but there is 
one thing better than all, and that is, Christ 
will be there." 

Reader, it may be you do not think much 
about your soul. It may be you know little 
of Christ as your Saviour, and have never 
tasted by experience that He is precious. And 
yet perhaps you hope to go to paradise when you 
die. Surely this passage is one that should 
make you think. Paradise is a place where 



CHEIST AND THE TWO THIEVES. 285 

Christ is. Then can it be a place that you would 
enjoy ? 

Reader, it may be you are a believer, and 
yet tremble at the thought of the grave. It 
seems cold and dreary. You feel as if all be- 
fore you was dark, and gloomy, and comfort- 
less. Fear not, but be encouraged by this text. 
You are going to paradise, and Christ will be 
there. 

V. The last thing you are meant to learn 
from these verses is this, "the eternal portion 
of every man's soul is close to him." 

" To-day," says our Lord to the penitent 
thief, "to-day shalt thou be with me in para- 
dise." He names no distant period, — He does 
not talk of his entering into a state of happi- 
ness as a thing "far away." He speaks of to- 
day, " this very day in which thou art hanging 
on the cross." 

Reader, how near that seems! How awfully 
near that word brings our everlasting dwelling- 
place. — Happiness or misery, — sorrow or joy, 
— the presence of Christ, or the company of 
devils, — all are close to us. " There is but a 



286 CHRIST AND THE TWO THIEVES. 

step," says David, "between me and 'death." 
(1 Sam. xx. 3.) There is but a step, we may 
say, between ourselves and either paradise or 
hell. 

We none of us realize this as we ought to 
do. It is high time to shake off the dreamy 
state of mind in which we live on this matter- 
We are apt to talk or think, even about be- 
lievers, as if death was a long journey, — as 
if the dying saint had embarked on a long 
voyage. It is all wrong, very wrong. Their 
harbor and their home is close by, and they 
have entered in. 

Some of us know by bitter experience what 
a long and weary time it is between the death 
of those we love, and the hour when we bury 
them out of sight. Such weeks are the slowest, 
saddest, heaviest weeks in all our lives. But, 
blessed be God, the souls of departed saints are 
free from the very moment their last breath is 
drawn. While we are weeping, and the coffin 
preparing, and the mourning being provided, 
and the last painful arrangement being made, 
the spirits of our beloved ones are enjoying the 



CHRIST AND THE TWO THIEVES. 287 

presence of Christ. They are ^reed forever 
from the burden of the flesh. They are where 
the wicked cease from troubling, and the weary 
are at rest. 

Reader, the day that believers die they are 
in paradise. Their battle is fought ; — their 
strife is over. They have passed through that 
gloomy valley we must one day tread ; — they 
have gone over that dark river we must one 
day cross. They have drank that last bitter 
cup which sin has mingled for man. They 
have reached that place where sorrow and 
sighing are no more. Surely we should not 
wish them back again. We should not weep 
for them, but for ourselves. 

We are warring still, but they are at peace. 
We are laboring, but they are at rest. We are 
watching, but they are sleeping. We are wear- 
ing our spiritual armor, but they have forever 
put it off. We are still at sea, but they are 
safe in harbor. We have tears, but they have 
joy. We are strangers and pilgrims, but as 
for them they are at home. Surely, better are 
the dead in Christ than the living. Surely the 



288 CHKIST AND THE TWO THIEVES. 

very hour tljp poor saint dies he is at once 
higher and happier than the highest upon earth.* 

I fear there is a vast amount of delusion on 
this point. I fear that many, who are not Ro- 
man Catholics, and profess not to believe in 
purgatory, have, notwithstanding, some strange 
ideas in their minds about the immediate con- 
sequences of death. I fear that many have a 
sort of vague notion that there is some interval 
or space of time between death and their eter- 
nal state. They fancy they shall go through a 
kind of purifying change, and that though they 
die unfit for heaven, they shall yet be found 
meet for it after all. 

But it will not stand. There is no change 
after death. There is no conversion in the 
grave. There is no new heart given after the 

* " We give thee hearty thanks, for that it hath pleased 
thee to deliver this our brother out of the miseries of this 
sinful world." — Church of England Burial Service. 

"I have some of the best news to impart. One beloved 
by you has accomplished her warfare ; has received an an- 
swer to her prayers, and everlasting joy rests upon her 
head. My dear wife, the source of my best earthly comfort 
for twenty years, departed on Tuesday." — Venn's Letter to 
Stilling fleet, announcing the death of his wife. 



CHEIST AND THE TWO THIEVES. 289 

last breath is drawn. The very day we go we 
launch for ever. The day we go from this 
world, we begin an eternal condition. From 
that day there is no spiritual alteration, — no 
spiritual change. As we die, so we shall receive 
after death. As the tree falls, so it must lie. 

Reader, if you are an unconverted man, this 
ought to make you think. Do you know you 
are close to hell ? This very day you might 
die, and if you died out of Christ, you would 
open your eyes in hell, and in torment. 

Reader, if you are a true Christian, you are 
far nearer heaven than you think. This very 
day, if the Lord should take you, you would 
find yourself in paradise. The good land of 
promise is near to you. The eyes that you 
closed in weakness and pain, would open at 
once on a glorious rest, such as my tongue 
cannot describe. 

And now let me say a few words in conclu- 
sion, and I have done. 

This tract may fall into the hands of some 
humble-hearted and contrite sinner. — Are you 
that man? Then here is encouragement for 
19 



290 CHEIST AND THE TWO THIEVES. 

you. See what the penitent thief did, and do 
likewise. See how he prayed, — see how he 
called on the Lord Jesus Christ, — see what an 
answer of peace he obtained. Brother or sister, 
why should not you do the same ? Why should 
not you also be saved ? 

This tract may fall into the hands of some 
proud and presumptuous man of the world. — 
Are you that man ? Then take warning. See 
how the impenitent thief died as he had lived, 
and beware lest you come to a like end. Oh ! 
erring brother or sister, be not too confident, 
lest you die in your sins. Seek the Lord while 
He may be found. Turn you, turn, why will 
you die ? 

This tract may fall into the hands of some 
professing believer in Christ. — Are you such 
an one ? Then take the penitent thief's religion 
as a measure by which to prove your own. 
See that you know something of true repent- 
ance and saving faith, of real humility and fer- 
vent charity. Brother or sister, do not be sat- 
isfied with the world's standard of Christianity. 



CHEIST AND THE TWO THIEVES. 291 

Be of one mind with the penitent thief, and you 
will be wise. 

This tract may fall into the hands of some 
one who is mourning over departed believers. 
Are you such an one ? Then take comfort from 
this Scripture. See how your beloved ones 
are in the best of hands. They cannot be 
better off. They never were so well in their 
lives as they are now. They are with Jesus, 
whom their souls loved on earth. Oh ! cease 
from your selfish mourning. Rejoice rather 
that they are freed from trouble, and have en- 
tered into rest. 

And this tract may fall into the hands of 
some aged servant of Christ. — Are you such 
an one ? Then see from these verses how near 
you are at home. A few more days of labor 
and sorrow, and the King of kings shall send 
for you ; and in a moment your warfare shall 
be at end, and all shall be peace. 



/aitjj'fl d^nto. 



" BY FAITH MOSES, WHEN HE WAS COME TO YEARS, REFUSED 
TO BE CALLED THE SON OF PHARAOH'S DAUGHTER ; 

" CHOOSING RATHER TO SUFFER AFFLICTION WITH THE PEO- 
PLE OF GOD, THAN TO ENJOY THE PLEASURES OF SIN FOR A 
SEASON ; 

"ESTEEMING THE REPROACH OF CHRIST GREATER RICHES 
THAN THE TREASURES IN EGYPT: FOR HE HAD RESPECT UNTO 
THE RECOMPENSE OF THE REWARD." 

Heb. xi. 24-26. 

The eleventh chapter of the Epistle to the 
Hebrews is a great chapter, I need not tell 
you. I can well believe it must have been 
most cheering and encouraging to a converted 
Jew. I suppose none found so much difficulty 
in a profession of Christianity as the Hebrews 
did. The way was narrow to all, but pre- 
eminently so to them. The cross was heavy 
to all, but surely they had to carry double 
weight. And this chapter would refresh them 
like a cordial, — it would be as " wine to those 



faith's choice. 293 

of a heavy heart." Its words would be pleasant 
as the honey-comb, "sweet to the soul and 
health to the bones." 

The three verses I am going to explain are 
far from being the least interesting in the chap- 
ter. Indeed I think few, if any, have so strong 
a claim on our attention. And I will tell you 
why I say so. 

It seems to me that the work of faith here 
spoken of, comes home more especially to our 
own case. The men of God who are named 
in the former part of the chapter are all ex- 
amples to us, beyond question. But we can- 
not literally do what most of them did, how- 
ever much we may drink into their spirit. We 
are not called upon to offer a literal sacrifice 
like Abel, — or build a literal ark like Noah, — 
or leave our country literally, and dwell in 
tents, and offer up our Isaac like Abraham. 
But the faith of Moses comes nearer to us. It 
seems to operate in a way more familiar to our 
own experience. It made him take up a line 
of conduct such as we must often take up our- 
selves in the present day, each in our own 



294 



walk of life. And for this reason I think these 
three verses deserve more than ordinary con- 
sideration. 

Now I have nothing but the simplest things 
to say about them. I shall only try to enforce 
upon you the greatness of the things that 
Moses did, and the principle on which he did 
them. And then perhaps you will be better 
prepared for the practical instructions which 
the verses appear to hold out to every one who 
will receive it. 

May the Holy Ghost bless the subject to us 
all ! May He give us the same spirit of faith, 
that we may walk in the steps of Moses, do as 
he did, and share his reward ! 

I. First then I will speak of what Moses 
gave up and refused. 

Moses gave up three things for the sake of 
his soul. He felt that his soul would not be 
saved if he kept them, — so he gave them up. 
And in so doing I say that he made three of the 
greatest sacrifices that man's heart can make. 

1. He gave up rank and greatness. 

" He refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's 



295 



daughter." You all know his history. The 
daughter of Pharaoh had preserved his life, 
when he was an infant, — adopted him and edu- 
cated him as her own son. 

If writers of history may be trusted, she 
was Pharaoh's only child. Men go so far as 
to say that in the common order of things 
Moses would one day have been king of Egypt. 
That may be, or may not — we cannot tell. It 
is enough for us to know that, from his con- 
nection with Pharaoh's daughter, Moses might 
have been, if he had pleased, a very great man. 
If he had been content with the position in 
which he found himself at the Egyptian court, 
he might easily have been among the first, — if 
not the very first, — in all the land of Egypt. 

Think, Reader, for a moment, how great this 
temptation was. 

Here was a man of like passions with our- 
selves. He might have had as much greatness 
as earth can well give. Rank, power, place, 
honor, titles, dignities, — all were before him, 
and within his grasp. These are the things for 
which many men are continually struggling. 



296 



These are the prizes which there is such an 
incessant race in the world around us to obtain. 
To be somebody, — to be looked up to, — to 
raise themselves in the scale of society, — to get 
a handle to their names ; — these are the things 
for which many sacrifice time, and thought, 
and health, and life itself. But Moses would not 
have them at a gift. He turned his back upon 
them." He refused them. He gave them up. 

2. And more than this, he refused pleasure. 

Pleasure of every kind, no doubt, was at his 
feet, if he had liked to take it up, — sensual 
pleasure, intellectual pleasure, — social pleasure, 
— whatever could strike his fancy. Egypt was 
a land of artists, — a residence of learned men, 
— a resort of every one who had skill, or 
science of any description. There was nothing 
which could feed the lust of the flesh, the lust 
of the eye, or the pride of life, which one in 
the place of Moses might not easily have com- 
manded. 

Think again, Reader, how great was this 
temptation also. 

This, be it remembered, is the one thing for 



297 



which millions live. They differ perhaps in 
their views o£what makes up real pleasure, — ■ 
but all agree in seeking first and foremost to 
obtain it. Pleasure and enjoyment in the holi- 
days is the grand object to which a school-boy 
looks forward. Pleasure and satisfaction in 
making himself independent, is the mark on 
which the young man in business fixes his eye. 
Pleasure and ease in retiring from business 
with a fortune, is the aim which the merchant 
sets before him. Pleasure and bodily comfort 
at his own house is the sum of the poor man's 
wishes. Pleasure and fresh excitement in 
politics, in travelling, in amusements, in com- 
pany, in books, — this is the goal towards which 
the rich man is straining. Pleasure is the 
shadow that all alike are hunting, — high and 
low, — rich and poor, — old and young, one with 
another ; each perhaps pretending to despise 
his neighbor for seeking it, — each in his own 
way seeking it for himself, — each secretly 
w r ondering that he does not find it, — each firmly 
persuaded that somewhere or other it is to be 
found. This was the cup that Moses had be- 



298 faith's choice. 

fore his lips. He might have drank as deeply 
as he liked of earthly pleasure. JBut he would 
not have it. He turned his back upon it. He 
refused it. He gave it up. 

3. And more than this, he refused riches. 

" The Treasures in Egypt" is an expression 
that seems to tell of wealth that he might have 
enjoyed, had he been content to remain with 
Pharaoh's daughter. We may well suppose 
these treasures would have been a mighty for- 
tune. Enough is stili remaining in Egypt to 
give us some faint idea of the money at its 
king's disposal. The pyramids, and obelisks, 
and statues, are still standing there as witnesses. 
The ruins at Carnac, and Luxor, and Dende- 
rah, and many other places, are still the mighti- 
est buildings in the world. They testify to this 
day that the man who gave up Egyptian wealth, 
gave up something which even our English 
minds would find it hard to reckon up. 

Think once more, how great was this temp- 
tation. 

Consider, Reader, the power of money, — the 
immense influence that the love of money ob- 



299 



tains over men's minds. Look around you and 
see how men covet it, and what amazing pains 
and trouble they will go through to obtain it. 
Tell them of an island many thousand miles 
away, where something may be found which 
may be profitable if imported, and at once a 
fleet of ships will be sent to get it. Show them 
a way to make one per cent, more of their 
money, and they will reckon you among the 
wisest of men, — they will almost fall down and 
worship you. To possess money seems to hide 
defects, — to cover over faults, — to clothe a man 
with virtues. People can get over much, if 
you are rich. But here is a man who might 
have been rich, and would not. He would not 
have Egyptian treasures. He turned his back 
upon them. He refused them. He gave 
them up. 

Such were the things that Moses refused, — 
rank, pleasure, riches, all three at once. 

Add to all this that he did it deliberately. He 
did not refuse these things in a hasty fit of 
youthful excitement. — He was forty years old. 
He was in the prime of life. He knew what 



300 



he was about. He weighed both sides of the 
question. 

Add to it that he did not refuse them because 
he was obliged. He was not like the dying 
man, who tells us, " He craves nothing more 
in this world ;" and why ? — Because he is leav- 
ing the world, and cannot keep it. He was 
not like the pauper, who makes a merit of ne- 
cessity, and says, " He does not want riches ;" 
and why ? — Because he cannot get them. He 
was not like the old man, who boasts " that he 
has laid aside worldly pleasures;" and why? — 
Because he is worn out, and cannot enjoy them. 
No ! Reader. Moses refused what he might 
have kept, and gave up what he might have 
enjoyed. Rank, pleasure, and riches did not 
leave him, but he left them. 

And then judge whether I am not right in 
saying that his was one of the greatest sacrifices 
mortal man ever made. Others have refused 
much, but none, I think, so much as Moses. 
Others have done well in the way of self-sacri- 
fice and self-denial, but he excels them all. • 

II. And now let me go on to the second 



301 



thing I wish to set before you. I will speak of 
what Moses chose. 

I think his choice as wonderful as his refusal. 
He chose three things for his soul's sake. The 
road to salvation led through them, and he fol- 
lowed it; and in so doing he chose three of the 
last things that man is ever disposed to take up. 

1. For one thing he chose suffering and 
affliction. 

He left the ease and comfort of Pharaoh's 
court, and openly took part with the children 
of Israel. They were an enslaved and perse- 
cuted people, — an object of distrust, suspicion, 
and hatred ; and the man who befriended them 
was sure to taste something of the bitter cup 
they were daily drinking. 

To man's eye there seemed no chance of 
their deliverance from bondage, without a long 
and doubtful struggle. A settled home and 
country for them must have appeared a thing 
never likely to be obtained, however much 
desired. In fact, if ever man seemed to be 
choosing pain, trials, poverty, want, distress, 



302 



anxiety, perhaps even death, with his eyes open, 
Moses was that man. 

Think only, Reader, how wonderful was this 
choice. 

Man naturally shrinks from pain. It is in 
us all to do so. We draw back by a kind of 
instinct from suffering, and avoid it if we can. 
If two courses of action are set before us, which 
both seem right, we always take that which is 
the least disagreeable to flesh and blood. We 
spend our days in fear and anxiety, when we 
think affliction is coming near us, and use every 
means to escape it. And when it does come, 
we often fret and murmur under the burden of 
it ; and if we can but bear it patiently we count 
it a great matter indeed. 

But look here. Here is a man of like pas- 
sions with yourself, and he actually chooses 
affliction ! 

Moses saw the cup of suffering that was be- 
fore him if he left Pharaoh's court, and he chose 
it, preferred it, and took it up. 

2. But he did more than this, he chose the 
company of a despised people. 



faith's choice. 303 

He left the society of the great and wise, 
among whom he had been brought up, and 
joined himself to the children of Israel. He 
who had lived from infancy in the midst of 
rank, and riches, and luxury, came down from 
his high estate, and cast in his lot with poor 
men, — slaves, bondservants, oppressed, desti- 
tute, afflicted, tormented, — laborers in the 
brick-kiln. 

How wonderful, once more, was this choice ! 

Generally speaking we think it enough to 
carry our own troubles. We may be sorry 
for others whose lot is to be mean and de- 
spised, — we may even try to help them, — we 
may give money to raise them, — we may speak 
for them to those on whom they depend ; but 
here we generally stop. 

But here is a man who does far more. He 
not merely feels for despised Israel, but actually 
goes down to them, adds himself to their society, 
and lives with them altogether. You would 
wonder if some great man in Grosvenor or 
Belgrave Square were to give up house, and 
fortune, and position in society, and go to live 



304 



on a small allowance in some narrow lane in 
Bethnal Green, for the sake of doing good : — 
yet this would convey a very faint and feeble 
notion of the kind of thing that Moses did. He 
saw a despised people, and he chose their com- 
pany in preference to that of the noblest in the 
land. He became one with them, — their fellow, 
their associate, and their friend. 

3. But he did even more. He chose reproach 
and scorn. 

Who can conceive the torrent of mockery 
and ridicule that Moses would have to stem, 
in turning away from Pharaoh's court to join 
Israel ? 

Men would tell him he was mad, foolish 
weak, silly, out of his mind ; he would lose his 
influence ; he would forfeit the favor and good 
opinion of all among whom he had lived. 

Think again, Reader, what a choice this 
was! 

There are few things more powerful than 
ridicule and scorn. It can do far more than 
open enmity and persecution. Many a man 
who would march up to a cannon's mouth, or 



805 



lead a forlorn hope, or storm a breach, has 
found it impossible to face the mockery of a 
few companions, and has flinched from the 
path of duty to avoid it. To be laughed at! 
To be made a joke of! To be jested and 
sneered at ! To be reckoned weak and silly ! 
To be thought a fool ! — There is nothing grand 
in all this, and many cannot make up their 
minds to undergo it. 

Yet there is a man who made up his mind 
to it, and did not shrink from the trial. Moses 
saw reproach and scorn before him, and he 
chose them, and accepted them for his portion. 

Such then were the things that Moses chose, 
— affliction. — the company of a despised people, 
— and scorn. 

Set down beside all this, that Moses was no 
weak, ignorant, illiterate person, who did not 
know what he was about. You are specially 
told he was a "learned" man, — he was one 
" mighty in words and in deeds," and yet he 
chose as he did. 

Set down too the circumstances of His 
choice. He was not obliged to choose as he 

20 



306 faith's choice. 

did. None compelled him to take such a course. 
The things he took up did not force themselves 
upon him against his will. He went after them, 
— they did not come after him. All that he 
did, he did of his own free choice, — voluntarily, 
and of his own accord. 

And then judge whether it is not true, that 
his choice was as wonderful as his refusal. 
Since the world began, I suppose, none ever 
made such a choice as the man Moses did in 
our text. 

III. And now let me go on to a third thing: 
— let me speak of the principle which moved 
Moses, and made him do as he did. 

How can this conduct of his be accounted 
for ? What possible reason can be given for 
it ? To refuse that which is generally called 
a good, — to choose that which is commonly 
thought an evil, — this is not the way of flesh 
and blood, — this is not the manner of man, 
— this requires some explanation. What will 
that explanation be ? 

You hear the answer in the text. I know not 
whether its greatness or its simplicity is more 



307 



to be admired. It all lies in one little word, and 
that word is, "faith." 

Moses had faith. Faith was the mainspring 
of his wonderful conduct. Faith made him do 
as he did, choose what he chose, and refuse 
what he refused. He did it all because he be- 
lieved. 

God set before the eyes of his mind His own 
will and purpose. God revealed to him that a 
Saviour was to be born of the stock of Israel, 
— that mighty promises were bound up in these 
children of Abraham, and yet to be fulfilled, — 
that the time for fulfilling a portion of these 
promises was at hand, — and Moses put credit 
in this, and believed. And every step in his 
wonderful career, — every action in his journey 
through life, after leaving Pharaoh's court, — his 
choice of seeming evil, his refusal of seeming 
good, — all must be traced up to this fountain, 
all will be found to rest on this foundation, — 
God had spoken to him, and he had faith in 
God's word. 

He believed that God would keep His prom- 
ises; that what He had said He would surely 



308 



do ; and what He had covenanted He would 
surely perform. 

He believed that with God nothing was im- 
possible. Reason and sense might say that 
the deliverance of Israel was out of the ques- 
tion, — the obstacles were too many, the diffi- 
culties too great. But faith told Moses that 
God was all-sufficient. God had undertaken 
the work, and it would be done. 

He believed that God was all wise. Reason 
and sense might tell him that his line of action 
was absurd ; — he was throwing away useful 
influence and destroying all chance of benefit- 
ing his people, by breaking with Pharaoh's 
daughter. But faith told Moses that if God 
said, "Go this way," it must be the best. 

He believed that God was all merciful. 
Reason and sense might hint that a more 
pleasant manner of deliverance might be found ; 
that some compromise might be effected, and 
many hardships be avoided. But faith told 
Moses that God was love, and would not give 
His people one drop of bitterness beyond what 
was absolutely needed. 



faith's choice. 



309 



Faith was a, telescope to Moses. It made 
him see the godly land afar off, — rest, peace, 
victory, — when dim-sighted reason could only 
see trial and barrenness, storm and tempest, 
weariness and pain. 

Faith was an interpreter to Moses. It made 
him pick out a comfortable meaning in the 
dark commands of God's handwriting, while 
ignorant sense could see nothing in it all but 
mystery and foolishness. • 

Faith told Moses that all this rank and great- 
ness was of the earth, earthy; a poor, vain, 
empty thing, frail, fleeting, and passing away ; 
and that there was no true greatness like that 
of serving God. He was the king, he the true 
nobleman who belonged to the family of God. 
It was better to be last in heaven, than first in hell. 

Faith told Moses that worldly pleasures were 
pleasures of sin. They were mingled with sin, 
— they led on to sin, — they were ruinous to the 
soul, and displeasing to God. It would be 
small comfort to have pleasure while God was 
against him. Better suffer and obey God, than 
be at ease and sin. 



310 faith's choice. 

Faith told Moses that these pleasures after 
all were only for a season : — they could not last, 
— they were all short-lived, — they would weary 
him soon, — he must leave them all in a few 
years. 

Faith told him there was a reward in heaven 
for the believer, far richer than the treasures 
in Egypt ; — durable riches, where rust could 
not corrupt, nor thieves break through and 
steal. The crown there would be incorrup- 
tible ; — the weight of glory would be exceeding 
and eternal ; — and faith bade him look away to 
that if his eyes were dazzled with Egyptian gold. 

Faith told Moses that affliction and suffering 
were not real evils : — they were the school of 
God, in which he trains the children of grace 
for glory ; — the medicines which are needful to 
purify our corrupt wills ; — the furnace which 
must burn away our dross ; — the knife which 
must cut loose the ties that bind us to the 
world. 

Faith told Moses that this despised people 
were the people of God; that to them belonged 
the adoption, and covenant, and the promises, 



faith's choice. 



311 



and the glory ; that of them the seed of the 
woman was one day to be born, who should 
bruise the serpent's head ; that the special 
blessing of God was upon them ; that they were 
lovely and beautiful in His eyes ; — and that it 
was better to be a door-keeper among the peo- 
ple of God, than to reign in the palaces of wick- 
edness. 

Faith told Moses that all the reproach and 
scorn poured out on him was the reproach of 
Christ ; — that it was honorable to be mocked 
and despised for Christ's sake ; — that whoso 
persecuted Christ's people was persecuting 
Christ Himself; — and that the day must come 
when His enemies would bow before Him and 
lick the dust. 

All this, and much more, of which I cannot 
speak particularly, Moses saw by faith. These 
were the things he believed, and believing did 
what he did. He was persuaded of them, and 
embraced them, — he reckoned them as cer- 
tainties, — he regarded them as substantial veri- 
ties, — he counted them as sure as if he had 
seen them with his eyes, — he acted on them as 



w 



312 



realities, — and this made him the man that he 
was. 

Marvel not that he refused greatness, riches, 
and pleasure. — He looked far forward. He saw 
with the eye of faith kingdoms crumbling into 
dust, — riches making to themselves wings and 
fleeing away,- — pleasures leading on to death 
and judgment, — and Christ only and His little, 
flock enduring forever. 

Wonder not that he chose affliction, a de- 
spised people, and reproach. — He beheld things 
below the surface. He saw with the eye of 
faith affliction lasting but for a moment, — re- 
proach rolled away, and ending in everlasting 
honor, — and the despised people of God reign- 
ing as kings with Christ in glory. 

And, Reader, was he not right ? Does he not 
speak to us, though dead, this very day ? The 
name of Pharaoh's daughter has perished ; — 
the city where Pharaoh reigned is not known ; 
— the treasures in Egypt are gone :— but the 
name of Moses is known wherever the Bible is 
read, and is still a standing witness that whoso 
liveth by faith, happy is he. 



faith's choice. 



313 



IV. And now let me wind up all by trying 
to set before you some practical lessons, which 
appear to me to follow from this text. 

What has all this to do with us ? some men 
will say. We do not live in Egypt, — we have 
seen no miracles, — we are not Israelites, — we 
are weary of the subject. 

Stay a little, Reader, if this be the thought 
of your heart, and by God's help I will show 
you that all may learn here, and all may be 
instructed. 

1. For one thing, if ever you would be saved, 
you must make the choice that Moses made, — 
you must prefer God before the world. 

Reader, mark well what I say. Do not over- 
look this, though all the rest be forgotten. I 
do not say that the statesman must throw up 
his office, and the rich man forsake his property. 
Let no one fancy that I mean this. But I say, 
if a man would be saved, whatever be his rank 
in life, he must be prepared for tribulation ; he 
must make up his mind to choose that which 
seems evil, and to give up and refuse that which 
seems good, 



314 



I dare be sure this sounds strange language 
to some who read these pages. I know well 
you may have a certain form of religion, and 
find no trouble in your way. There is a com- 
mon worldly kind of Christianity in this day, 
which many have, and think they have enough, 
— a cheap Christianity which offends nobody, 
and requires no sacrifice, — which costs noth- 
ing, and is worth nothing. I am not speaking 
of religion of this kind. 

But if you really are in earnest about your 
soul, — if your religion is something more than 
a mere fashionable cloak, — if you are deter- 
mined to live by the Bible, — if you are resolved 
to be a New Testament Christian, then, I re- 
peat, you will soon find you must carry a cross, 
— you must endure hard things, — you must 
suffer because of your soul, as Moses did, or 
you cannot be saved. 

The world in the nineteenth century is what 
it always was. The hearts of men are still the 
same. The offence of the cross is not ceased. 
God's true people are still a despised little flock. 
True evangelical religion still brings with it 



815 



reproach and scorn. A real servant of God 
will still be thought by many a weak enthusiast 
and a fool. 

Reader, do you wish your souls to be saved ? 
Then remember, you must choose whom you 
will serve. You cannot serve God and mam- 
mon. You cannot be on two sides at once. 
You cannot be a friend of Christ, and a friend 
of the world at the same time. You must come 
out from the children of this world, and be sepa- 
rate ; you must put up with much ridicule, 
trouble, and opposition, or you are lost forever. 
You must be willing to think and do things 
which the world considers foolish, and to hold 
opinions which are only held by a few. It will 
cost you something. The stream is strong, and 
you have to stem it. The way is narrow and 
steep, and it is no use saying it is not. But 
depend on it, there can be no saving religion 
without sacrifices and self-denial. 

Now, Reader, are you doing anything of this 
kind ? I put it to your conscience in all affec- 
tion and tenderness, are you, like Moses, pre- 
ferring God to the world, or not ? I beseech 



316 



you not to take shelter under that dangerous 
word " we/' — " we ought," — and " we hope/' 
— and " we mean," — and the like. I ask you 
plainly, what are you doing yourself? Are you 
willing to give up anything which keeps you 
back from God? or are you clinging to the 
Egypt of the world, and saying to yourself, " I 
must have it, I must have it, I cannot tear my- 
self away ?" What sacrifices are you making ? 
Are you making any at all ? Is there any cross 
in your Christianity? Are there any sharp 
corners in your religion, anything that ever 
jars and comes in collision with the earthly- 
mindedness around you, or is all smooth and 
rounded off, and comfortably fitted in to custom 
and fashion ? Do you know anything of the 
afflictions of the Gospel ? Is your faith and 
practice ever a subject of scorn and reproach ? 
Are you thought a fool by any one because of 
your soul ? Have you left Pharaoh's daughter, 
and heartily joined the people of God ? Are you 
venturing all on Christ ? Search and see. 

Reader, these are hard and rough sayings.' — > 
I cannot help it. — I believe they are founded 



FAITH'S CHOICE. 



317 



on Scripture truths. I remember it is written, 
" there were great multitudes with Jesus, and 
he turned and said unto them, If any man come 
unto me and hate not his father, and mother, 
and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, 
yea and his own life also, he cannot be my 
disciple. And whosoever doth not bear his 
cross, and come after me, cannot be my disci- 
ple." (Luke xiv. 25, 27.) Many, I fear, would 
like glory, who have no wish for grace, — they 
would fain have the wages, but not the work, — - 
the harvest, but not the labor, — the reaping, 
but not the sowing, — the reward, but not the 
battle. But it may not be. As Bunyan says, 
" the bitter must go before the sweet." If there 
is no cross there will be no crown. 

2. The second thing I will say is this, — 
nothing will ever enable you to choose God 
before the world, except faith. 

Nothing else will do it. Knowledge will 
not ; — feeling will not ; — a regular use of out- 
ward forms will not ; — good companions will 
not. All these may do something, but the fruit 
they produce has no power of continuance, it 



318 faith's choice. 

will not last. A religion springing from such 
sources will only endure so long as there is no 
tribulation or persecution because of the word ; 
but so soon as there is any, it will dry up. It 
is a clock without weights, — its face may be 
beautiful, you may turn its fingers round, but 
it will not go. 

A religion that is to stand must have a living 
foundation, and there is none other but faith. 

Reader, have you got this faith? If you 
have, you will find it possible to refuse seeming 
good, and choose seeming evil, — you will think 
nothing of to-day's losses, in the hope of to-mor- 
row's gains, — you will follow Christ in the dark, 
and stand by Him to the very last. If you 
have not, I warn you, you will never war a 
good warfare, and so run as to obtain, — you 
will soon be offended and turn back to the 
world. 

There must be a real belief that God's prom- 
ises are sure and to be depended on ; — a real 
belief that what God says in the Bible is all 
true, and that every doctrine contrary to this 
is false, whoever may say it. There must be 



FAITH'S CHOICE. 



319 



a real belief that all God's words are to be re- 
ceived, however hard and disagreeable to flesh 
and blood, and that his way is right, and all 
others wrong ; this there must be, or you will 
never come out from the world, take up the 
cross, follow Christ, and be saved. 

You must learn to believe promises better 
than possession ; — things unseen better than 
things seen ; — things in heaven out of sight, 
better than things on earth before your eyes ; — ■ 
the praise of the invisible God better than the 
praise of visible man. Then, and then only, 
you will make a choice like Moses, and prefer 
God to the world. 

This was the faith by which the old saints 
obtained a good report. This was the weapon 
by which they overcame the world. This 
made them what they were. 

This was the faith that made Noah go on 
building his ark, while the world looked on and 
mocked, — and Abraham gave the choice of the 
land to Lot, and dwell on quietly in tents, — 
and Ruth cleave to Naomi, and turn away from 
her country and her gods, — and Daniel con- 



320 faith's choice. 

tinue in prayer, though he knew the lions' den 
was prepared, — and the three children refuse 
to worship idols, though the fiery furnace was 
•before their eyes. All these acted as they did 
because they believed. Well may the Apostle 
Peter speak of faith as " precious faith." (2 
Peter i. 1.) 

3. The third thing I shall say is this, the true 
reason why so many are worldly and ungodly 
persons is, that they have no faith. 

Reader, you must be aware that multitudes 
of professing Christians would never think for 
a moment of doing as Moses did. It is useless 
to speak smooth things, and shut our eyes to 
the fact. That man must be blind who does 
not see thousands around him who are daily 
preferring the world to God, — placing the things 
of time before the things of eternity, — the things 
of the body before the things of the soul. You 
may not like to hear it, but so it is. 

And why do they do so ? No doubt they will 
all give us reasons and excuses. Some will 
talk of the snares of the world, — some of the 
want of time, — some of the peculiar difficulties 



faith's choice. 



321 



of their position, — some of the cares and anxie- 
ties of life, — some of the strength of temptation, 
— some of the power of passions, — some of the 
effects of bad companions. But what does it 
come to after all ? There is a far shorter way 
to account for the state of their souls, they do 
not believe. One simple sentence, like Aaron's 
rod, will swallow up all their excuses, they have 
no faith. 

They do not really think what God says is 
true. They secretly flatter themselves with 
the notion, " it will surely not be fulfilled, all of 
it; — there must surely be some other way to 
heaven besides that which ministers speak of; 
there cannot surely be so much danger of being 
lost." In short they do not put implicit confi- 
dence in the words that God has written and 
spoken, and so do not act upon them. They 
do not thoroughly believe hell, and so do not 
flee from it ; — nor heaven, and so do not seek 
it ; — nor the guilt of sin, and so do not turn 
from it; — nor the holiness of God, and so do 
not fear Him ; — nor their need of Christ, and 
so do not trust in Him, nor love Him. They 
21 



122 



do not feel confidence in God, and so venture 
nothing for Him. Like the boy Passion, in 
Pilgrim's Progress, they must have their good 
things now. They do not trust God, and so 
they cannot wait. 

Reader, how is it with yourself? Do you 
believe all the Bible ? Ask yourself that ques- 
tion. Depend on it, it is a much greater thing 
to believe all the Bible than many suppose. 
Happy is the man who can say, " I am a be- 
liever." 

We talk of infidels sometimes as if they 
were the rarest people in the world. And I 
grant you that open avowed infidelity is hap- 
pily not common now. But there is a vast 
amount of practical infidelity around us, for all 
that, which is as dangerous in the end as the 
principles of Voltaire and Paine. There are 
many who Sunday after Sunday repeat their 
creed, and make a point of declaring their 
belief in all that the Apostolic and Nicene 
forms contain, and yet these very persons will 
live all the week as if Christ had never died? 
and as if there were no judgment, and no 



323 



resurrection of the dead, and no life everlasting 
at all. There are many who will say, "Oh, 
we know it all," when spoken to about eternal 
things, and the value of their souls ; and yet 
their lives show plainly they know not any- 
thing as they ought to know ; and the sad- 
dest part of their state is, that they think they do. 

Reader, I warn you that knowledge not 
acted upon, in God's sight, is no knowledge at 
all. A faith that does not influence a man's 
practice is not worthy of the name. There 
are only two classes in the Church of Christ, — 
those who believe, and those who do not. The 
difference between the true Christian and the 
mere outward professor, just lies in one word; 
— the true Christian is like Moses, " he has 
faith ;" — the professor has none. The true 
Christian believes, and therefore lives as he 
does ; — the mere professor does not believe, 
and therefore is what he is. Oh! where is your 
faith! Be not faithless, but believing. 

4. The last thing I will say is this, the true 
secret of doing great tilings for God is, to have 
great faith. 



324 



I suspect that we are all apt to err a little 
on this point. We think too much, and talk 
too much about graces, and gifts, and attain- 
ments, and do not sufficiently remember that 
faith is the root and mother of them all. In 
walking with God, a man will go just as far as 
he believes, and no further. His life will al- 
ways be proportioned to his faith. His peace, 
his patience, his courage, his zeal, his works, — 
all will be according to his faith. 

You read the lives of eminent Christians 
perhaps. Such men as Romaine, or Newton, 
or Martyn, Scott, or Simeon, or M'Cheyne ; 
and you are disposed to say, " What wonderful 
gifts and grace these men had !" I answer, 
you should rather give honor to the mother- 
grace which God puts forward in the eleventh 
chapter of the Epistle to the Hebrews, — you 
should give honor to their faith. Depend on it, 
faith was the mainspring in the character of 
each and all. 

I can fancy some one saying, " They were 
so prayerful ; — that made them what they 
were." I answer, why did they pray much ? 



faith's choice. 325 

— Simply because they had much faith. What 
is prayer, but faith speaking to God ? 

Another perhaps will say, " They were so 
diligent and laborious, — that accounts for their 
success." I answer, why were they so dili- 
gent ? — Simply because they had faith. What 
is Christian diligence, but faith at work ? 

Another will tell me, " They were so bold, — 
that rendered them so useful." I answer, why 
were they so bold ? — Simply because they had 
much faith. What is Christian boldness, but 
faith honestly doing its duty ? 

And another will cry, " It was their holiness 
and spirituality, — that gave them their weight." 
For the last time I answer, what made them 
holy ? — Nothing but a living, realizing spirit of 
faith. What is holiness, but faith visible and 
faith incarnate ? 

Now, dear Reader, would you grow in grace, 
and in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ? 
Would you bring forth much fruit? Would 
you be eminently useful ? Would you be 
bright, and shine as a light in your day ? Would 
you, like Moses, make it clear as noon-day that 



326 



you have chosen God before the world ? I dare 
be sure that every believer will reply, " Yes ! 
yes! yes! these are the things we long for and 
desire." 

Then take the advice I give you this day: — 
go and cry to the Lord Jesus Christ, as the 
disciples did, " Lord, increase our faith." Faith 
is the root of a real Christian's character. Let 
your root be right, and your fruit will soon 
abound. Your spiritual prosperity will always 
be according to your faith. He that believeth 
shall not only be saved, but shall never thirst. 
— shall overcome, — shall be established, — shall 
walk firmly on the waters of this world, — and 
shall do great works. 



Emmtor Iftt. 

"he lingered." 

Gen. xix. 16. 

Who is this man that lingered ? — Lot, the 
nephew of faithful Abraham. And when did 
he linger ? — The very morning when Sodom 
was to be destroyed. And where did he linger ? 
— Within the walls of Sodom itself. And be- 
fore whom did he linger ? — Under the eyes of 
the two angels, who were sent to bring him out 
of the city. 

Reader, the words are solemn, and full of food 
for thought. I trust they will make you think. 
Who knows but they are the very words your 
soul requires ? The voice of the Lord Jesus 
commands you to " remember Lot's wife." 
(Luke xvii. 32.) The voice of one of His min- 
isters invites you this day to remember Lot. 

Let me try to show you, — 

I. What Lot was himself: 



328 REMEMBER LOT. 



II. What the text already quoted tells you 
of him : 

III. What reasons may account for his lin- 

gering : 

IV. What kind of fruit his lingering 

brought forth. 

I. What was Lot ? 

This is a most important point. If I leave 
it unnoticed, I shall perhaps miss that class of 
professing Christians I want especially to bene- 
fit. You would perhaps say, after reading this 
paper, " Ah ! Lot was a poor, dark creature, — 
an unconverted man, — a child of this world ; — 
no wonder he lingered/' 

But mark now what I say. Lot was nothing 
of the kind. Lot was a true believer, — a real 
child of God, — a justified soul, — a righteous man. 

Has any one of you grace in his heart ? — So 
also had Lot. 

Has any one of you a hope of salvation? — 
So also had Lot. 

Is any one of you a new creature ? — So also 
was Lot. 



REMEMBER LOT. 329 

Is any one of you a traveller in the narrow 
way which leads unto life ? — So also was 
Lot. 

Do not think this is only my private opinion, 
a mere arbitrary fancy of my own,— a notion 
unsupported by Scripture. Do not suppose I 
want you to believe it, merely because I say it. 
The Holy Ghost has placed the matter beyond 
controversy, by calling him "just," and "right- 
eous," (2 Peter ii. 7, 8,) and has given us evi- 
dence of the grace that was in him. 

One evidence is, that he lived in a wicked 
place, " seeing" and hearing" evil all around him, 
(2 Peter ii. 8,) and yet was not wicked himself. 
Now to be a Daniel in Babylon, an Obadiah in 
Ahab's house, an Abijah in Jeroboam's family, 
a saint in Nero's court, and a righteous man in 
Sodom, a man must have the grace of God. 

Another evidence is, that he " vexed his soul 
with the unlawful deeds" he beheld around him. 
(2 Peter ii. 8.) He was wounded, grieved, 
pained, and hurt at the sight of sin. This was 
feeling like holy David, who says, " I beheld 
the transgressors, and was grieved, because 



330 EEMEMBEE LOT. 

they kept not thy word." " Rivers of waters 
run down mine eyes, because they keep not thy 
law." (Psalm cxix. 136, 158.) Nothing will 
account for this but the grace of God. 

Another evidence is, that he " vexed his soul 
from day to da) 7 " with the unlawful deeds he 
saw. (2 Peter ii. 8.) He did not at length 
become cool and lukewarm about sin, as many 
do. Familiarity and habit did not take off the 
fine edge of his feelings, as too often is the case. 
Many a man is shocked and startled at the first 
sight of wickedness, and yet becomes at last so 
accustomed to see it, that he views it with com- 
parative unconcern. This is especially the 
case with those who live in great cities. But 
it was not so with Lot. And this is* a great 
mark of the reality of his grace. 

Such an one was Lot, — a just and righteous 
man, a man sealed and stamped as an heir of 
heaven by the Holy Ghost Himself. 

Reader, before you pass on, remember that 
a true Christian may have many a blemish, 
many a defect, many an infirmity, and yet be 
a true Christian nevertheless. You do not 



REMEMBER LOT. 331 

despise gold because it is mixed with much 
dross. You must not undervalue grace because 
it is accompanied by much corruption. Read 
on, and you will find that Lot paid dearly for 
his lingering. But do not forget, as you read, 
that Lot was a child of God. 

II. Let us pass on to the second thing I 
spoke of. What does the text, already quoted, 
tell us about Lot's behavior ? 

The words are wonderful and astounding, 
" He lingered ;" and the more you consider the 
time and circumstances, the more wonderful 
you will think them. 

Lot knew the awful condition of the city in 
which he stood ; " the cry" of its abomination 
" had waxen great before the Lord :" (Gen. xix. 
13,) and yet he lingered. 

Lot knew the fearful judgment coming down 
on all within its walls ; the angels had said 
plainly, " The Lord hath sent us to destroy it :" 
(Gen. xix. 13,) and yet he lingered. 

Lot knew that God was a God who always 
kept His word, and if He said a thing would 
surely do it. He could hardly be Abraham's 



332 EEMEMBER LOT. 

nephew, and live long with him, and not be 
aware of this. Yet he lingered. 

Lot believed there was danger, for he went 
to his sons-in-law, and warned them to flee: 
" Up," he said, " get you out of this place ; for 
the Lord will destroy this city." (Gen. xix. 14.) 
And yet he lingered. 

Lot saw the angels of God standing by, wait- 
ing for him and his family to go forth. And yet 
he lingered. 

Lot heard the voice of those ministers of 
wrath ringing in his ears to hasten him, "Arise 
lest thou be consumed in the iniquity of the 
city." (Gen. xix. 15.) And yet he lingered. 

He was slow when he should have been 
quick — backward when he should have been for- 
ward — trifling when he should have been has- 
tening — loitering when he should have been 
hurrying — cold when he should have been 
hot. It is passing strange! It seems almost 
incredible ! It appears too wonderfnl to be 
true! But the Spirit writes it down for our 
learning. And so it was. 



REMEMBER LOT. 333 
• 

And yet, Reader, there are many of the Lord 
Jesus Christ's people very like Lot. 

Mark well what I say. I repeat it, that 
there may be no mistake about my meaning. 
I have shown you that Lot lingered, — I say 
that there are many Christian men and Chris- 
tian women in this day very like Lot. 

There are many real children of God, who 
appear to know far more than they live up to, 
and see far more than they practise, and yet 
continue in this state for many years. Won- 
derful that they go as far as they do, and yet 
go no further ! 

They hold the Head, even Christ, and love 
the truth. They like sound preaching, and 
assent to every article of Gospel doctrine, when 
they hear it. But still there is an indescribable 
something which is not satisfactory about 
them. They are constantly doing things which 
disappoint the expectations of their ministers, 
and of more advanced Christian friends. Mar- 
vellous that they should think as they do, and 
yet stand still ! 

They believe in heaven, and yet seem faintly 



334 EEMEMBER LOT. 

• 

to long for it ; — and in hell, and yet seem little 
to fear it. They love the Lord Jesus, but the 
work they do for Him is small. They hate the 
devil, but they often appear to tempt him 
to come to them. They know the time is 
short, but they live as if it were long. They 
know they have a battle to fight, yet a man 
might think they were at peace. They know 
they have a race to run, yet they often look 
like people sitting still. They know the judge 
is at the door, and there is wrath to come, and 
yet they appear half asleep. Astonishing they 
should be what they are, and yet be nothing 
more ! 

And what shall we say of these people? 
They often puzzle godly friends and relations. 
They often cause great anxiety. They often 
give rise to great doubts and searchings of 
heart. But they may be classed under one 
sweeping description : they are all brethren 
and sisters of Lot. They linger. 

These are they who get the notion into their 
minds that it is impossible for all believers to 
be very holy and very spiritual. They allow 



EEMEMBEE LOT. 335 

that eminent holiness is a beautiful thing. 
They like to read about it in books, and even 
to see it occasionally in others. But they do not 
think that all are meant to aim at so high a 
standard. At any rate they seem to make up 
their minds it is beyond their reach. 

These are they who get into their heads 
false ideas of charity, as they call it. They 
would fain please everybody, and suit every- 
body, and be agreeable to everybody. But 
they forget they ought first to be sure that they 
please God. 

These are they who dread sacrifices, and 
shrink from self-denial. They never appear 
able to apply our Lord's command, "to cut off 
the right hand and pluck out the right eye." 
(Matt. v. 29, 30.) They spend their lives in 
trying to make the gate more wide, and the 
cross more light. But they never succeed. 

These are they who are always trying to 
keep in with the world. They are ingenious 
in discovering reasons for not separating de- 
cidedly, and in framing plausible excuses for 
attending questionable amusements, and keep- 



336 EEMEMBEK LOT. 

ing up questionable friendships. One day you 
are told of their attending a Bible reading : the 
next day perhaps you hear of their going to a 
ball. They are constantly laboring to per- 
suade themselves that to mix a little with 
worldly people on their own ground does good. 
Yet in their case it is very clear they do no 
good, and only get harm. 

These are they who cannot find it in their 
heart to quarrel with their besetting sin, 
whether it be sloth, indolence, ill-temper, pride, 
selfishness, impatience, or what it may. They 
allow it to remain a tolerably quiet and undis- 
turbed tenant of their hearts. They say it is 
their health, and their constitutions, and their 
temperaments, and their trials, and their way. 
Their father, or mother, or grandmother, was 
so before themselves, and they are sure they 
cannot help it. And when you meet after the 
absence of a year or so, you hear the same 
thing. 

But all, all, all may be summed up in one 
single sentence. They are the brethren and 
sisters of Lot. They linger. 



REMEMBER LOT. 337 

Ah ! reader, if you are a lingering soul, you 
are not happy. You know you are not. It 
would be strange indeed if you were so. 
Lingering is the sure destruction of a happy 
Christianity. A lingerer's conscience forbids 
him to enjoy inward peace. 

Perhaps at one time you did run well. But 
you have left your first love, — you have never 
felt the same comfort since, and you never 
will till you return to your first works. Like 
Peter, when the Lord Jesus was taken pris- 
oner, you are following the Lord afar off, and 
like him you will find the way not pleasant but 
hard. 

Come and look at Lot. Come and mark Lot's 
history. Come and consider Lot's lingering, and 
be wise. 

III. Let us next consider the reasons that 
may account for Lot's lingering. 

This is a question of great importance, and 
I ask your serious attention to it. To know 
the root of a disease is one step towards a 
remedy. He that is forewarned is forearmed. 

Who is there among the readers of these 



338 REMEMBER LOT. 

pages that feels secure, and has no fear of lin- 
gering ? Come and listen while I tell you a 
few passages in Lot's history. Do as he did, 
and it will be a miracle indeed if you do not 
get into the same state of soul at last. 

One thing, then, I observe in Lot, is this, he 
made a xurong choice in early life. 

There was a time when Abraham and Lot 
lived together. They both became rich, and 
could live together no longer. Abraham, the 
elder of the two, in the true spirit of humility 
and courtesy, gave Lot the choice of the coun- 
try, when they resolved to part company ; " If 
thou," he said, " wilt take the left hand then I 
will go to the right, or if thou depart to the right 
hand then I will go to the left." (Gen. xiii. 9.) 

And what did Lot do? — We are told he saw 
the plains of Jordan, near Sodom, were rich, 
fertile and well-watered. It was a good land 
for cattle, and full of pastures. He had large 
flocks and herds, and it just suited his require- 
ments. And this was the land he chose for a 
residence, simply because it was a rich, well- 
watered land. 



REMEMBER LOT. 339 



It was near the town of Sodom ! He cared 
not for that. 

The men of Sodom, who would be his neigh- 
bors, were wicked ! It mattered not. 

They were sinners before God exceedingly ! 
It made no difference to him. 

The pasture was rich. The land was good. 
He wanted such a country for his flocks and 
herds. And before that argument all scruples 
and doubts, if indeed he had any, at once went 
down. 

He chose by sight, and not by faith. He 
asked no counsel of God to preserve him from 
mistakes. He looked to the things of time, and 
not of eternity. He thought of his worldly 
profit, and not of his soul. He considered only 
what would help him in this life, — he forgot the 
solemn business of the life to come. This was 
a bad beginning. 

But I observe also that Lot mixed with 
sinners when there was no occasion for his 
doing so. 

We are first told that he " pitched his tent 



340 REMEMBER LOT, 

toward Sodom." (Gen. xiii. 12.) This, as I 
have already shown, was a great mistake. 

But the next time he is mentioned, we find 
him actually living in Sodom itself. The Spirit 
says expressly, "He dwelt in Sodom." (Gen. 
xiv. 12.) His tents were left. The country 
was forsaken. He occupied a house in the very 
streets of that wicked town. 

We are not told the reasons of this change. 
We are not aware that any occasion could 
have arisen for it. We are sure there could 
have been no command of God. Perhaps his 
wife liked the town better than the country, for 
the sake of society. It is plain she had no grace 
herself. Perhaps she persuaded Lot it was 
needful for the education of his daughters. 
Perhaps the daughters urged living in the town 
for the sake of gay compan}^ : they were evi- 
dently light-minded young women. Perhaps 
Lot liked it himself, in order to make more of 
his flocks and herds. Men never want reasons 
to confirm their wills. But one thing is very 
clear, — Lot dwelt in the midst of Sodom with- 
out good cause. 



REMEMBER LOT. 341 

Reader, when a child of God does these two 
things, which I have named, you never need be 
surprised if you hear, by-and-by, unfavorable 
accounts about his soul. You never need won- 
der if he becomes deaf to the warning voice of 
affliction, as Lot was, (Gen, xiv. 12,) and turns 
out a lingerer in the day of trial and danger, as 
Lot did. 

Make a wrong choice, — an unscriptural 
choice,— in life, and settle yourself down unne- 
cessarily in the midst of worldly people, and I 
know no surer way to damage your own spir- 
ituality, and to go backward about your eternal 
concerns. 

This is the way to make the pulse of your 
soul beat feebly and languidly. This is the way 
to make the edge of your feeling about sin 
become blunt and dull. This is the way to dim 
the eyes of your spiritual discernment, till you 
can scarcely distinguish good from evil, and 
stumble as you walk. This is the way to bring 
a moral palsy on your feet and limbs, and make 
you go tottering and trembling along the road 
to Zion, as if the grasshopper was a burden. 



342 RE MEMBER LOT. 

This is the way to sell the pass to your worst 
enemy, — to give the devil the vantage-ground 
in the battle, — to tie your arms in fighting, — 
to fetter youi' legs in running, — to dry up the 
sources of your strength, — to cripple your own 
energies, — to cut off your own hair, like Sam- 
son, and give yourself into the hands of the 
Philistines, put out your own eyes, grind at the 
mill, and become a slave. 

Reader, wake up and mark well what I am 
saying. Settle these things down in your 
mind. Do not forget them. Recollect them 
in the morning. Recall them to memory at 
night. Let them sink down deeply into your 
heart. If ever you would be safe from linger- 
ing, beware of needless mingling with worldly 
people. Beware of Lot's choice. If you would 
not settle down into a dry, dull, sleepy, idle, 
barren, heavy, carnal, stupid, torpid state of 
soul, beware of Lot's choice. 

Remember this in choosing a dwelling-place 
or residence. It is not enough that the house 
is comfortable, — the situation good, — the air 
fine, — the neighborhood pleasant, — the ex- 



EEMEMBER LOT. 343 



penses small, — the living cheap. There are 
other things yet to be considered. You must 
think of your immortal soul. Will the house 
you think of help you towards heaven or hell ? 
— Is the Gospel preached within easy dis- 
tance? — Is Christ crucified within reach of 
your door? — Is there a real man of God near, 
who will watch over your soul ? I charge you, 
if you love life, not to overlook this. Beware 
of Lot's choice. 

Remember this in choosing a calling, a place, 
or profession in life. It is not enough that the 
salary is high, the wages good, — the labor light, 
the advantages numerous, — the prospects of 
getting on most favorable. Think of your soul, 
your immortal soul. Will it be fed or starved? 
Will it be prospered or drawn back ? I be- 
seech you, by the mercies of God, to take heed 
what you do. Make no rash decision. Look 
at the place in every light, the light of God as 
well as the light of the world. Gold may be 
bought too dear. Beware of Lot's choice. 

Remember this in choosing a husband or 
wife, if you are unmarried. It is not enough 



344 REMEMBER LOT. 



that your eye is pleased, — that your tastes are 
met, — that your minds find congeniality, — that 
there is amiability and affection, — that there is 
a comfortable home for life. There needs 
something more than this. There is a life yet 
to come. Think of your soul, your immortal 
soul. Will it be helped upwards, or dragged 
downwards by the union you are planning? 
— Will it be made more heavenly, or more 
earthly, — drawn nearer to Christ, or to the 
world ? — Will its religion grow in vigor, or 
will it decay ? I pray you, by all your hopes 
of glory, allow this to enter into your calcula- 
tions. Think, as old Baxter said, and think, 
and think, and think again, before you commit 
yourself. "Be not unequally yoked." (2 Cor. 
vi. 14.) Matrimony is nowhere named among 
the means of conversion. Remember Lot's 
choice. 

Remember this, if you are ever offered a 
situation on a railway. It is not enough to 
have good pay, and regular employment, the 
confidence of the directors, and the best chance 
of rising to a higher post. These things are 



REMEMBER LOT. 345 

very well in their way. but they are not every- 
thing. How will your soul fare, if you serve 
a railway company that runs Sunday trains ? 
— What day in the week will you have for 
God and eternity ? — What opportunities will 
you have for hearing the Gospel preached ? 
I solemnly warn you to consider this. It will 
profit you nothing to fill your purse, if you 
bring leanness and poverty on your soul. Be- 
ware of selling your Sabbath for the sake of a 
good place. Beware of Lot's choice. 

Reader, you may perhaps think, " a believer 
need not fear, — he is a sheep of Christ, — he 
will never perish, — he cannot come to much 
harm. It cannot be that such small matters 
can be of great importance." 

Well ! you may think so ; but I warn you, 
if you neglect them, your soul will never pros- 
per. A true believer will certainly not be cast 
away, although he may linger ; but if he does 
linger, it is vain to suppose his religion will 
thrive. 

Grace is a tender plant. Unless you cherish 
it, and nurse it well, it will soon become sickly 



346 REMEMBER LOT. 

in this evil world. It may droop, though it 
cannot die. The brightest gold will soon be- 
come dim, when exposed to a damp atmos- 
phere. The hottest iron will soon become 
cold. It requires pains and toil to bring it to 
a red heat. It requires nothing but letting alone, 
or a little cold water, to become black and 
hard. 

You may be an earnest, zealous Christian 
now. You may feel like David in his prosperity, 
" I shall never be moved." (Psalm xxx. 6.) 
But be not deceived. You have only got to 
walk in Lot's steps, and make Lot's choice, 
and you will soon come to Lot's state of soul- 
Allow yourself to do as he did, — presume to 
act as he acted, and be very sure you will soon 
discover you have become a wretched lingerer, 
like him. 

You will find like Samson, the presence of 
the Lord is no longer with you. You will 
prove, to your own shame, an undecided, hesi- 
tating man, in the day of trial. There will 
come a canker on your religion, and eat out 
its vitality without your knowing it. There 



EEMEMBER LOT. 347 

will come a consumption on your spiritual 
strength, and waste it away insensibly. And 
at length you will wake up to find your hands 
hardly able to do the Lord's work, and your 
feet hardly able to carry you along the Lord's 
way, and your faith no bigger than a grain of 
mustard-seed ; — and this perhaps at some turn- 
ing point in your life, at a time when the ene- 
my is coming in like a flood, and your need is 
the sorest. 

Ah ! Reader, if you would not become a lin- 
gerer in religion, consider these things. Beware 
of doing what Lot did. 

IV. Let us inquire now what kind of fruit 
Lot's lingering spirit bore at length. 

I would not pass over this point for many 
reasons, and especially in the present day. 

There are not a few who will feel disposed 
to say, " After all Lot was saved, — he was 
justified, — he got to heaven. I want no more. 
If I do but get to heaven I shall be content." 

Reader, if this be the thought of your heart, 
just stay a moment and listen to me a little 
longer. I will show you one or two things in 



848 EEMEMBER LOT. 



Lot's history, which deserve attention, and may 
perhaps induce you to alter your mind. 

I think it of first importance to dwell upon 
this subject. I always will contend that emi- 
nent holiness and eminent usefulness are most 
closely connected, — that happiness and follow- 
ing the Lord fully go side by side, — and that if 
believers will linger, they must not expect to 
be useful in their day and generation, or to en- 
joy great comfort and peace in believing. 

Mark then, for one thing, Lot did no good 
among the inhabitants of Sodom. 

Lot lived in Sodom many years. No doubt 
he had many precious opportunities for speak- 
ing of the things of God, and trying to turn 
away souls from sin. But Lot seems to have 
effected just nothing at all. He appears to 
have had no weight or influence with the 
people who lived around him. He possessed 
none of that respect and reverence which even 
the men of the world will frequently concede 
to a bright servant of God. 

Not one righteous person could be found in 
all Sodom, outside the walls of Lot's home. 



EEMEMBEE LOT. 349 

Not one of his neighbors believed his testi- 
mony. Not one of his acquaintances honored 
the Lord when he worshipped. Not one of 
his servants served his master's God. Not 
one of " all the people from every quarter" 
cared a jot for his opinion when he tried to 
restrain their wickedness. " This one fellow 
came into sojourn," said they, "and he will 
needs be a judge." (Gen. xix. 9.) His life car- 
ried no weight. His words were not listened 
to. His religion drew none. 

And truly I do not wonder. As a general 
rule, lingering souls do no good to the world, 
and bring no credit to God's cause. Their salt 
has too little savor to season the corruption 
around them. They are not epistles of Christ, 
that can be known and read of all. (2 Cor. iii. 
2. ) There is nothing magnetic, and attractive, 
and Christ-reflecting about their ways. Re- 
member this. 

Mark another thing. Lot helped no rela- 
tion towards heaven. 

We are not told how large his family was. 
But this we know, — he had a wife and two 



350 REMEMBER LOT. 

daughters at least, in the day he was called out 
of Sodom, if he had not more children besides. 

But whether Lot's family was large or 
small, one thing, I think, is perfectly clear, — 
there was not one among them all that feared 
God. 

When he " went out and spake to his sons- 
in-law which married his daughters," and 
warned them to flee from the coming judg- 
ments, we are told, " he seemed to them as one 
that mocked." (Gen. xix. 14.) What fearful 
words those are ! It was as good as saying, 
" Who cares for anything you say ?" So long 
as the world stands those words will be a pain- 
ful proof of the contempt with which a lin- 
gerer in religion is regarded. 

And what was Lot's wife? She left the 
city in his company, but she did not go far. 
She had not faith to see the need of such a 
speedy flight. She left her heart in Sodom 
when she began to flee. She looked back 
from behind her husband, in spite of the 
plainest commands not to do so, (Gen. xix. 17,) 
and was at once turned into a pillar of salt. 



EEMEMBER LOT. 351 



And what were Lot's two daughters? The5 
escaped indeed, — but only to do the devil's 
work. They became their father's tempters 
to wickedness, and led him to commit the 
foulest of sins. 

In short, Lot stood alone in his family. He 
was not made the means of keeping one soul 
back from the gates of hell. 

And I do not wonder. Lingering souls are 
seen through by their own families, and when 
seen through despised. Their nearest rela- 
tions understand inconsistency if they under- 
stand nothing else in religion. They draw 
the sad, but not unnatural conclusion, " Surely 
if he believed all he professes to believe, he 
would not go on as he does." Lingering 
parents seldom have godly children. The eye 
of the child drinks in far more than the ear. 
A child will always observe what you do much 
more than what you say. Remember this. 

Mark a third thing. Lot left no evidences 
behind him when he died. 

We know but little about Lot after his flight 
from Sodom, and all that we do know is un- 



352 REMEMBER LOT. 

satisfactory. His pleading -for Zoar, because 
it was " a little" city, — his departure from 
Zoar afterwards,' — and his conduct in the 
cave, — all, all tell the same story. All show 
the weakness of the grace that was in him, 
and the low state of soul into which he had 
fallen. 

We know not how long he lived after his 
escape. We know not where he died, or 
when he died, — whether he saw Abraham 
again, — what was the manner of his death, — 
what he said, or what he thought. All these 
are hidden things. We are told of the last 
moments of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, — 
but not one word about Lot. Oh ! what a 
gloomy death-bed the death-bed of Lot must 
have been ! 

The Scripture appears to draw a veil around 
him on purpose. There is a painful silence 
about his latter end. He seems to go out like 
an expiring lamp, and leave an evil savor be- 
hind him. And had we not been specially 
told in the New Testament that Lot was 
"just" and "righteous," I verily believe we 



EEMEMBEE LOT. 353 

should have doubted whether Lot was a saved 
soul at all. 

But I do not wonder at his sad end. Lin- 
gering believers will generally reap according 
as they have sown. Their lingering often 
meets them when their spirit is departing. 
They have little peace at the last. They 
reach heaven, to be sure, but they reach it in 
darkness and storm. They are saved, but 
saved so as by fire. 

Reader, consider these three things I have 
just mentioned. Do not misunderstand my 
meaning. It is amazing to observe how 
readily people catch at the least excuse for 
misunderstanding the things that concern their 
souls ! 

I do not tell you that believers who do not 
linger will, as a matter of course, be great in- 
struments of usefulness to the world. Noah 
preached one hundred and twenty years, and 
none believed him. The Lord Jesus was not 
esteemed by His own people, the Jews. 

Nor yet do I tell you that believers who do 
not linger will, as a matter of course, be the 



354 EEMEMBEE LOT. 



means of converting their families and rela- 
tions. David's children were many of them 
ungodly. The Lord Jesus was not believed 
even by His own brethren. (John vii. 5.) 

But I do say it is almost impossible not to 
see a connection between Lot's evil choice, 
and Lot's lingering, — and between Lot's lin- 
gering, and his unprofitableness to his family 
and the world. I believe the Spirit meant us 
to see it. I believe the Spirit meant to make 
it a beacon to all professing Christians. And 
I am sure the lessons I have tried to draw 
from the whole history, deserve serious re- 
flection. 

Let me speak a few parting words to all 
who read this paper, and especially to all who 
call themselves believers in Christ. 

I have no w T ish to make your hearts sad. I 
do not want to give you a gloomy view of the 
Christian course. My only object is to give 
you friendly warnings. I desire your peace 
and comfort. I would fain see you happy, as 
well as safe, — and joyful as well as justified. 
I speak, as I have done, for your good. 



EEMEMBER LOT. 355 

You live in days when a lingering, Lot-like 
religion abounds. The stream of profession is 
far broader than it once was. but far less deep 
in many places. A certain kind of Christi- 
anity is almost fashionable now. To belong 
to some party in the church, and show a zeal 
for its interests, — to talk about the leading- 
controversies of the day, — to buy popular re- 
ligious books as fast as they come out, and lay 
them on your table, — to attend meetings, — 
subscribe to societies, — and discuss the merits 
of preachers, — all these are now compara- 
tively easy and common attainments. They 
no longer make a person singular. They re- 
quire little or no sacrifice. They entail no cross. 

But to walk closely with God, — to be really 
spiritually-minded, — to behave like strangers 
and pilgrims, — to be distinct from the world 
in employment of time, in conversation, in 
amusements, in dress, — to bear a faithful wit- 
ness for Christ in all places, — to leave a savor 
of our Master in every society, — to be prayer- 
ful, humble, unselfish, meek, — to be jealously 
afraid of sin, and tremblingly alive to our 



356 REMEMBEK LOT. 

danger from the world, — these, these are still 
rare things. They are not common among 
those who are called true Christians, and 
worst of all, the absence of them is not felt 
and bewailed as it should be. 

Reader, I give you good counsel this day. 
Do not turn from it. Do not be angry with 
me for plain speaking. I bid you give diligence 
to make your calling and election sure. I bid 
you not to be slothful, — not to be careless, — 
not to be content with a small measure of 
grace, — not to be satisfied with being a little 
better than the world. I solemnly warn you 
not to attempt doing what never can be done, 
— I mean to serve Christ, and yet keep in with 
the world. I call upon you, and beseech you, 
I charge you, and exhort you, — by all your 
hopes of heaven, and desires of glory, — do not 
be a lingering soul. 

Would you know what the times demand, 
— the shaking of nations,— the uprooting of 
ancient things, — the overturning of kingdoms, 
— the stir and restlessness of men's minds ? 
They all say, — Christian! do not linger! 



REMEMBER LOT. 357 

Would you be found ready for Christ at His 
second appearing, — your loins girded, — your 
lamp burning, — yourself bold and prepared to 
meet Him ? Then do not linger ! 

Would you enjoy much sensible comfort in 
your religion, — feel the witness of the Spirit 
within you, — know in whom you have believed, 
— and not be a gloomy and melancholy Chris- 
tian? Then do not linger! 

Would you enjoy strong assurance of your 
own salvation in the day of sickness, and on 
the bed of death ? — Would you see with the 
eye of faith heaven opening, and Jesus rising 
to receive you ? Then do not linger ! 

Would you leave great broad evidences be- 
hind you, when you are gone ? — Would you 
like us to lay you in the grave with comfortable 
hope, and talk of your state after death with- 
out a doubt ? Then do not linger ! 

Would you be useful to the world in your 
day and generation ? — Would you draw men 
from sin to Christ, and make your Master's 
cause beautiful in their eyes ? Then do not 
linger ! 



358 REMEMBER LOT. 



Would you help your children and relations 
towards heaven, and make them say, " We 
will go with you ?" and not make them infidels 
and despisers of all religion ? Then do not 
linger ! 

Would you have a great crown in the day 
of Christ's appearing, and not be the least and 
smallest star in glory, and not find yourself the 
last and lowest in the kingdom of God ? Then 
do not linger! 

Oh! let none of us linger. Time does not, — 
death does not, — judgment does not, — the devil 
does not, — the world does not. Neither let the 
children of God linger. 

Reader, are you a lingerer ? Has your heart 
felt heavy, and your conscience sore, while you 
have been reading these pages ? Does some- 
thing within you whisper, " I am the man ?" 
Reader, listen to what I am saying. — how is it 
with your soul ? 

If you are a lingerer, you must just go to 
Christ at once and be cured, — you must use 
the old remedy. You must bathe in the old 
fountain. You must turn again to Christ, and 



REMEMBER LOT. 359 

be healed. The way to do a thing is to do it. 
Do this at once. 

Think not for a moment your case is past 
recovery. Think not because you have been 
long living in a dry and heavy state of soul, 
that there is no hope of revival. Is not the 
Lord Jesus Christ an appointed Physician for 
the soul ? Did He not cure every form of 
disease ? Did not He cast out every kind of 
devil ? Did He not raise poor backsliding Peter, 
and put a new song in his mouth ? Oh! doubt 
not, but earnestly believe that He will yet re- 
vive His work within you. Only turn from 
lingering, and confess your folly, and come, — 
come at once to Christ. Blessed are the 
words of the prophet, " Only acknowledge 
thine iniquity/' — " Return, ye backsliding chil- 
dren, and I will heal your backsliding." 
(Jerem. iii. 13, 22.) 

Reader, remember the souls of others, as 
well as your own. If at any time you see any 
brother or sister lingering, try to awaken them, 
— try to arouse them, — try to stir them up. 
Let us all exhort one another as we have oppor- 



360 REMEMBER LOT. 

tunity. Let us provoke unto love and good 
works. Let us not be afraid to say to each 
other, " Brother, or sister, have you forgotten 
Lot? Awake! and remember Lot! — Awake 
and linger no more." 



THE END. 






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